Lost Season 4
by Tsunamisurf
Summary: What happens to the castaways on the island during season 4? How are they rescued? And what takes place in the future for Jack and Kate? All of the mysteries left unsaid will be answered and new questions will arise...
1. And Look North

**Title: Lost Season 4  
Author: Tsunamisurf (Lost Forum: Tritomunkey)  
Gender: Action, Adventure, Romance, Mystery  
Rating: PG-13 for mild language, violence, some sexuality  
Summary: Basically a story version of what I believe Season 4 of Lost will be like. I don't want to give to much away so you'll have to make do with this. **

**LOST  
Season 4**

**4x01: And Look North (Nobody Centric)**

He opened his eyes and gasped, staring up at the bright light on the ceiling above him. Blinking, he leaned forward and looked around the small room he was in. It looked like a flat in an apartment. There were paintings on the wall and in the corner of the room there was a study with a shelf full of books and a computer sitting on a desk with the monitor shining brightly in the shadows of the wall. The man sat up and sighed, rubbing his hands through his hair and looking down at his feet for a few moments, deep in thought, before getting up off the sofa and moving to the computer in the corner.  
He sat down for a few seconds, taking a CD out of a tray and putting it into one of the drives in the computer. A pop-up came up on the desktop and asked if he wanted to play it. He clicked yes and the sound of trumpets started up followed by a man's deep voice singing:

_Love is a burning thing  
and it makes a fiery ring_

The man brought up another window on the computer and typed something in really quickly before getting up and sniffing. He moved toward the bathroom, past what looked like a kitchen, and stepped up to a mirror on the wall.

_bound by wild desire  
I fell in to a ring of fire..._

The man was black with dread-locks going down the sides of his face and the back of his head. His eyes were sunken and saw that there were tears in them, just waiting to pour out. He wiped his face with his wrist really quickly, sniffing again as he looked down into the sink and coughed.

_I fell in to a burning ring of fire  
I went down,down,down  
and the flames went higher.  
And it burns,burns,burns  
the ring of fire  
the ring of fire._

The man began to cry as he stood there in front of his mirror. Sniffing again, he shook his head and stumbled out of the bathroom, looking around for a moment before heading to his bed and pulling something out of a drawer.

_The taste of love is sweet  
when hearts like our's meet  
I fell for you like a child  
oh, but the fire went wild.._

The man held his handgun up to the right side of his head, sobbing as he grabbed what looked like a small portrait off from his desk before he looked into the picture. Tears ran down the sides of his face as he put his finger over the trigger of the gun. His hand shook slightly as he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.

_I fell in to a burning ring of fire  
I went down,down,down  
and the flames went higher.  
And it burns,burns,burns  
the ring of fire  
the ring of fire._

Quite suddenly, the computer began to make a strange static noise. The man stopped and stared at it for a few seconds with wide, shocked eyes before slowly lowering his gun and getting up. The static continued as the song died out.

_I fell into a ring of fire..._

The man ran toward the computer and sat down, staring at the screen for a moment as a picture of a black circle with a bunch of small numbers spinning around it came up. A white dot began to bleep inside of the circle and a voice started to come through.  
"Hello?"  
The man blinked, listening. He could hear other people talking in the background. And then he heard the man's voice again. "Hello? Is anybody out there?"  
He picked up a black transmitter and clicked something on top of it. "Hello?" He replied. Little did he know that he was talking to Jack Shephard along with the rest of the Oceanic flight 815 survivors on the island. He had no idea that just his voice alone had sprung hope inside each and every one of them at that very moment...

**LOST**

John Locke stood leaning against the side of the massive radio tower watching in silence with his arms crossed and a gun in his hands as Jack spoke into the transmitter to the people on the boat offshore. When he got off of it, Locke saw everyone yell with joy as people hugged each other and celebrated.  
His eyes traveled the scene to where Ben was, tied up against a tree looking bloody and beaten, just as he had when they first captured him down in the Swan station. He scoffed at the irony in his head. Perhaps if Ben hadn't shot him and left him to die, he could have helped him prevent this from happening. Because John had heard what Ben said earlier. And if he was right, then he didn't trust the people on Naomi's boat at all.

Jack turned and looked at Kate, who returned the look with a small smile. "You did it, Jack." She said to him happily.  
"You can thank me when we're on that boat." He told her, nodding his head and putting the radio back inside of his backpack.  
Kate didn't really know what else to say but smile and walk off to celebrate with the others. Jack knelt down on one knee and sighed with relief. It had all been worth it. Finally it seemed like they were being rescued. As he took in this thought and laughed under his breath, he looked up and saw Ben.  
He was standing behind his binds by the tree looking directly at him with his big, bug-like eyes narrowed and his face fallen in disappointment.  
"What?" Jack asked. "Mad that I didn't obey the great leader of the others?"  
"No, Jack..." Ben said, shaking his head and sighing. "I'm disappointed in you."  
"Well that's your problem, Ben." Jack replied, looking down and zipping up his backpack.  
"I warned you about what would happen, Jack." Ben continued. "And instead of listening...you've killed us all."  
"No, Ben." Jack smiled, standing up. "You're just saying that because you've already lost." Ben frowned as Jack walked up to him. "You're mind games are done. Nobody here is going to listen to you. The only people on this island that did listen to you are now dead. And that's on you..."  
And with that, Jack turned and walked away leaving Ben against the tree, watching him go with wide eyes and his mouth slightly open. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Jack..." He called after him, but Jack ignored this comment and continued to where the groups of his people were, still celebrating their rescue.  
Danielle came up to where Ben stood as everyone began to pack up and prepare their leave. She took out a hunting knife and cut the ropes. Alex came up and grabbed Ben by the shoulders, keeping him there in case he tried to escape while her mother untied him.  
"I see you've chosen their side as well..." Ben said to Alex sadly.  
Alex shifted her eyes uncomfortably and held him still.  
"Disappointing." Ben sighed. "First you abandon Jeffrey and now--"  
Danielle slammed her fist into the side of Ben's face, shutting him up at once and making fresh blood slip from between his lips. "Don't you ever speak to her again." She snarled, cutting the last rope and pushing him to the ground where she dug her knee into his back and grabbed more rope to tie his hands together behind his back. Ben remained silent, looking into the ground with a defeated expression. Alex remained standing, unsure of what to do.  
As Danielle stood back up, Alex looked at her and muttered "Thanks..."  
Rousseau blinked, and simply nodded as Alex left them and joined the group, her mother watching her go with a smile on her face.  
Hurley stood on the beach by their camp, looking out into the ocean with a glum expression on his face. Sayid, Jin, and Sawyer were helping pile up all of the bodies from the other's invasion earlier on that morning while Bernard sat inside the van looking at all of the beer in amazement.  
"Where did all of this come from?" He asked.  
"The dharma folks were building a road." Sawyer answered him. "You know how hard it would be to do that without a little beer to tie you over?"  
"This just seems so...surreal." Bernard said, shaking his head. Sawyer raised an eyebrow and climbed inside of the van. "I mean...We find hatches full a food...then food drops from the sky...and now some magic car comes to save the day full of beer."  
"Why complain? It's beer!" Sawyer smirked, cracking open a can and drinking it with a sigh of relief. "What? Don't tell me your wife doesn't let you have a little fun once and a while."  
Bernard glared at him. "For your information, my idea of fun isn't being a drunken idiot!"  
Sawyer shrugged and took another drink. Hurley sighed and kicked some sand into the ocean before turning around and watching them. Sayid dragged Tom's body over and placed it by the man who had gotten his neck broken. Hurley came up to him and said "So dude, like...what are we going to do now?"  
Sayid looked at him with a little laugh. "Well, first we have to get back to the rest of our people."  
"Are they coming back here?" Hurley asked. "Cus I don't see the point of living at the radio tower, dude."  
"Of course they're coming back. Once they've found rescue." Sayid said.  
"If they've found rescue..." Hurley muttered, looking down.  
Sayid studied him for a moment. "You don't think Charlie did it, do you?"  
"Well it's been like...a day." Hugo said, taking the opportunity to talk about it. "And Desmond isn't back either. He could've drowned or something, or--"  
Sayid patted Hurley's shoulder and he stopped talking.  
"Don't worry." He said. "Charlie was the one who rescued Jack from the cave-in, remember? If he can do that, he can do this too. Besides, Desmond is with him if anything goes wrong."  
"Yeah..." Hurley sighed. But that wasn't the only thing that worried him. Unlike Sayid, he knew about Desmond's flashes and about how Charlie was supposed to die soon. What if Charlie knew he was going to die but did it anyway to rescue them? And that'd be why Desmond was the one who decided to join him...  
These uncomfortable thoughts were shook from his head when the walkie talkie in his pocket suddenly started to make static and Jack's voice rang in saying "Hurley? Anyone there?"  
"Yeah, dude." Hurley said into the walkie-talkie.  
"Hurley, we've contacted Naomi's boat."  
"What?!"  
"Let me see that." Sayid said, taking the walkie-talkie politely. "Jack, what happened?"  
"We talked to them; they're going to take us home." Jack said.  
"They did it!" Hurley announced happily to Sawyer, Jin, Bernard, and Juliet who were now all standing by the van. "We're gonna get rescued!"  
Bernard and Sawyer both cheered and laughed. Jin grinned as Hurley joined them and gave him a huge bear-hug. Juliet simply watched and smiled with her arms crossed. Then she laughed when Hurley looked at her and said "Screw it" before giving her a big hug as well.  
Sayid smiled and said "Jack, where are they going to pick us up?"  
"We don't know, I'm going to radio them in again."  
"Why don't you ask Naomi where her boat is?" Sayid asked.  
Jack paused for a second on the other end. "She's dead."  
Sayid blinked and the celebration was cut short. "What?"  
On the other side of the island by the radio tower, Jack frowned and said "Locke killed her."  
"Locke?" Sayid repeated in disbelief.  
"What?" Sawyer asked, stepping out of the van looking dumbstruck.  
"I almost forgot about him." Hurley muttered.  
"Why did he kill her, Jack?" Sayid asked.  
"He doesn't want us to get off the island." Jack said, looking over and seeing Locke watching him by the tower's base. "He's one of them now..."

A few minutes passed after Jack got off the walkie with Sayid and started up the transmitter once again. Kate joined him, looking over his shoulder hopefully as Jack pressed the buttons that he remembered Naomi had told him about before putting it up against his ear like a phone. He heard static for a few moments before the man's voice he had heard earlier said "Hello?"  
"Hey, it's us again." Jack said. "We need to know where your boat is and where you're going to pick us up."  
"Approximately 80 miles north of your island." The man said. "We can be there in two days at full speed."  
"Alright, that gives us enough time to get there." Jack said, relieved. "We'll be on the beach, ok?"  
"Alright, hey, what's your name?"  
"It's Jack."  
"Alright, Jack. We'll see you soon."  
"Thanks." Jack turned it off and smiled at Kate.  
"So when are we leaving?" She asked.  
"Right now." Jack said, shrugging his back-pack onto his shoulder. "Once I tell Sayid and his group where to go, we can meet up somewhere and head straight to the beach in the north."  
"Just like that?" Kate asked.  
"Yeah." Jack chuckled and nodded. "Just like that."  
"Sounds too easy to me..." Kate smirked.  
Jack chuckled again and said "Well, without the others in our way...what can stop us? Right?"

Later, on the beach, Sayid and Hurley were searching through all of the maps they had stolen from Rousseau. They were sitting under a tree by their camps, looking through it intensely.  
"Jack said they're in the north, and the radio tower is here..." Sayid said, taking a pencil. "Which means if we're going to meet them, we should head north to save time and see if we can cross paths with them."  
"Maybe we should find a good place to meet them at..." Hurley muttered.  
"How about our village?" Juliet suggested, appearing by Hurley's side and looking down at the map that showed the village her people had lived at.  
"It's surrounded by a fence that'll blow our brains up though, I thought." Hurley muttered.  
"There's a code you can use to disable the fence. I know it." She said. "And if you let me I can tell Jack the code as well. That way whoever gets there first can just wait for us. Then we can head to the beach."  
Sayid frowned and stood up. "Why are you so eager to get back to your village, Juliet?"  
Juliet frowned at him but kept her cool. "Sayid, I know that you're an interrogator but for once, maybe you should actually trust me and listen to a good idea when you hear one."  
Sayid remained where he was but didn't say a word. Finally, he grabbed the walkie talkie and begrudgingly said "Fine, but this does not mean I trust you."  
"I don't need your trust, Sayid." Juliet said simply, looking him in the eye.  
Hurley looked between them both uncomfortably. "I think I'm going to go...over there..." He muttered lamely, getting up and leaving before they could start yelling at each other.

Claire came up to Jack as he finished telling the group about the plan to move north. She was holding Aaron, who was crying in her arms loudly.  
"Jack, I'm worried." She said over the noise of the baby.  
"About?" Jack questioned.  
"Aaron." She said. "He hasn't stopped crying since this morning."  
"I'm sure he just misses Charlie." Jack said with a smile.  
Claire nodded, her lip shaking a little as she tried to calm Aaron down. Jack noticed her expression and said "Aaron isn't the one you're worried about, is he?"  
Claire stopped, for some reason unable to look at him as she gave a curt nod. Jack sighed and patted her shoulder. "Look, Charlie will be fine."  
"Don't say that." Claire snapped at him, suddenly reproachful. "You don't know that!"  
Kate put an arm around her and led her away as Jack looked down with a sigh. The last thing he needed right now was to feel guilty. He hadn't really thought of what had become of Charlie and Desmond, nor did he really want to think of it. He assumed that they'd get to Sayid's group before they left and that was that.

As Kate led Claire away from Jack, they passed Rose and Sun who were sitting in the grass talking.  
"Who would think that Bernard would be such a hero." Rose chuckled.  
"Or my Jin." Sun laughed.  
"At least Jin is young and sharp." Rose told her. "Though if Bernard was a few years younger I'm sure he could've competed with your husband."  
They both laughed as Kate looked at them with a smile. She thought about Sawyer and how he'd gone back and helped save them and how her previous anger toward him was somehow diminished. But as she thought of this, she saw Jack talking on the walkie-talkie to Sayid and her face fell, remembering him say "I love you." only a few hours earlier to her.

As Jack looked at the group of people getting ready to leave, he put the walkie-talkie away and turned to Kate. "You remember where the other's village was, right?"  
"Kind of." Kate said. "Why?"  
"Because I just got done talking to Sayid and Juliet. They've decided to meet us there." He told her.  
"Can't you remember the way there?" Kate asked with a raised eyebrow.  
"Not from where we are right now." Jack shook his head. "And I came in from the east of the island when we went to the village. We're still south of the village. And since you were one of the people to came south when you got me, I was hoping you'd know the way there."  
"Yeah, I think I can lead us there." Kate said confidently.  
"Alright, good." Jack smiled. "I'm going to tell the rest of the group where we're going and what's going on." He walked down the hill toward everyone else while Kate stood watching him with small smile of her own.

Danielle had her arms crossed as Jack explained to everyone where they were heading. Ben had his head down but his eyes were wide open and listening to the plan in silence. Rousseau looked at him with disgust, wondering if she could hit him again just for the hell of it.  
"I'm surprised, Danielle..." Ben said suddenly, catching her off guard.  
"Excuse me?" She asked.  
"I'm surprised by you." He said, looking at her over his shoulder. "You have the man who kidnapped your child tied up and you haven't even asked me why I did what I did..."  
Rousseau blinked, unsure of what to make of this. Ben continued, looking down at his feet. "Not that I'm really surprised. A lot of these people here don't ask very many questions. I guess you're just like the rest of them..."  
"Shut up." Danielle said coldly.  
"Or maybe..." Ben ignored her. "Maybe you're just afraid to find out the truth...after-all, you know things these people don't know..."  
Danielle's eyes flared as he said this. Her fists clenched and she thought about hitting him. Beating him senseless until he could never utter a word again.  
"I told Alexandra that I was her father when she was growing up." Ben said at last. "And for the most part she believed me. And when she was old enough to ask, she asked about her mother...Do you want to know what I told her?"  
Rousseau slammed her fist into his face once again, but he kept his balance, leaning over and letting the blood drip from his mouth and his nose into the grass. He sighed in pain and opened his eyes, shutting up at last.  
Danielle looked up as Jack began to lead the group up into the jungle along with Kate. She took the rope in her hands and pulled Ben along behind her, giving a painful tug every now and again as she led him into the forest with the rest of the survivors.

Sawyer tossed the empty beer can over his shoulder and onto the beach as he put all the guns they had into the back of the van. Jin walked by carrying his backpack as well and putting it down next to the guns.  
"Hey, Chewie." Sawyer said to him. "Not a good idea, the guns might go off if you put that there. It's gonna be a bumpy trip down the yellow brick road, after-all."  
Jin muttered something in Korean and raised an eyebrow. Sawyer rolled his eyes and threw Jin's bag toward the front of the van instead. Jin stalked off looking confused as Sawyer closed the van doors up with a sigh.  
He turned around and found himself facing Juliet, looking at him with a tilted head and crossed arms.  
"What?" Sawyer asked, affronted.  
"Why did you kill him?" She asked calmly.  
Sawyer opened his mouth but paused. Who was it she was talking about? It had to be Tom, of course. She didn't know about...  
"Like I said, I didn't believe him." He snapped. "It's hard as hell to believe anything your people said anyway."  
"He had no gun, no weapons, and he was severely outnumbered." Juliet said. "Even if he was lying, there wasn't much he could've done except gone back to tell the others they'd lost and we'd won."  
"Well I felt more comfortable not having him around at all, okay?!" Sawyer said, raising his voice in annoyance. He really did not want to talk about this, especially to Juliet.  
"James..." She said.  
"It's Sawyer..." Sawyer muttered.  
She stared at him. "Right...Sawyer...look, whatever's bothering you--"  
"There's nothing bothering me, alright?" Sawyer growled. "Just shove off. Go kidnap a baby polar bear or something..." And with that he stalked off, leaving Juliet alone, watching him go with a saddened expression on her face. She could tell there was something wrong.  
Meanwhile, Hurley stood on the beach looking out into the ocean quietly before seeing Sayid getting ready to get inside of the van. "Hey, dude!" He called, running through the sand up to him.  
"What is it, Hurley?" Sayid asked, stuffing his maps into the dashboard.  
"I'm thinking I'll stay here, y'know." Hurley said. "Wait for Charlie and Desmond to get back. 'Cus they won't know where we'll be at and we can't get rescued without them."  
"Hurley, we can leave a note for them." Sayid told him, shaking his head. "And besides, I'm not leaving you alone on the beach."  
"We can't just give up on them!" Hurley said loudly.  
"The others are still out there." Sayid said, frowning at him. "If you stay here alone they might come here with full forces and take you. We can't have that. We're leaving now. Jack and his group already have a head start but we have a working vehicle. We should get there at around the same time, tomorrow."  
"So we just leave a note for them?" Hurley asked.  
"Yes, a note." Sayid said.  
Hurley looked back out into the ocean, half-expecting to see the boat Desmond and Charlie had sailed out on in the distance. But there was nothing there except the bright, yellow gleam of the sun bouncing off the ocean's surface. "Alright, but I get to write it." He said.  
"By all means." Sayid agreed.  
"And--" Hurley said. "I get to drive."

Jin took a seat inside of the dharma van along with Bernard, Sawyer, and Juliet. Sawyer looked down at groaned. "Damn it." He said. "There's only one box of beer left."  
"Well we should save it then for the rest of us." Bernard said, grabbing the box away from him.  
"You don't even like beer!" Sawyer snarled.  
"I didn't say that." Bernard said calmly. "I'll drink a fair few every now and then."  
"Well, why didn't you say so?" Sawyer muttered, rolling his eyes. "Maybe when we get rescued we can meet up at a bar and have a few Bloody Maries."  
Bernard smirked and shook his head while Jin looked out onto the beach. Hurley was finishing writing the note before pinning it up on the nearest tree. Sayid climbed into the passenger's seat, looking around and saying "We're lucky we can all fit in here."  
Hurley walked over and clambered into the front seat of the van, starting the ignition with one try. "Alright..." He muttered, looking out the window. Despite everything, they were all going to miss this beach, save for Juliet of course. They lived there for a long time, and it felt sort of surreal that they'd have to say goodbye to it. Most of their tents were still up, and they could see the burial grounds in the distance where a few of the survivors had been laid to rest.  
"Goodbye beach!" Hurley yelled out the window.  
"Don't be so dramatic." Sawyer muttered, leaning against the inside of the van uncomfortably.  
The wheels began to turn as the group drove off into the jungle leaving their only home on the island behind them.

The black man who had received the transmission from Jack unlocked a door, making it groan as he swung it all way open. He stepped out into a long, dark hallway with only three, dim lights hanging from the stone ceiling above. He walked down the hallway, wearing a black suit making him look like a shadow. As he walked, he past doors that looked like cells and each door had a different bar code on them with a set of numbers and a name. He ignored all of the doors down the hall until he got to the one at the very end in front of him. There was a button on the side of the wall next to it. He pressed it and said "Four-One-One-Nine-Seven."  
The door slid open and he stepped into a different room, slightly brighter than the hallway behind him. He climbed up a fleet of carpeted stairs and into a big, round room with a giant window stretching along the walls where he could see the ocean stretching out all around their boat. There was a desk at the end of the room with a big, red chair behind it. Sitting in the chair there was a man with gray hair. He had his back to him, however.  
"We've found Naomi's crash-site." The black man said. "It's on the island, like we suspected."  
"How do you know this?" Spoke the man. He had a calm voice but it had an essence of power in it.  
"The plane that crashed there, sir." The black man replied. "There are survivors from the crash. They told me they have Naomi with them."  
"Excellent..." The man behind the chair said. "Head there now."  
"Right, sir." The black man nodded, turning to leave.  
"Oh, and Zack." The man said. "Make them think that they're going to be rescued."  
"Of course, sir." The black man, apparently named Zack, said with curt nod before leaving the man in the chair alone in his room to look out into the ocean where the island was just out of sight...

**LOST**


	2. Second Chances

**4x02: Second Chances (Ben Centric)**

A teenage boy who looked around the age of sixteen opened his eyes, awaking in the night and staring at the ceiling of his room. It hadn't changed much since he was a kid except there were more scientific models around on his shelves and more books in his cabinets. He sat up and looked out the window where he could see the forest trees swaying in the cold night air. Sitting there for a few moments in silence, he thought of something before eyeing his clock. 11:15pm. Getting up, he walked to his door and opened it. He saw his father asleep on the couch with cans of dharma initiative beers spread all around him in a mess. Turning back around, the boy opened his window and carefully climbed out of it.  
He landed like a cat in the grass outside, shivering slightly at how cold it was. He stood up straight and ran into the jungle leaving his home behind. After a minute or so of running, he burst through the trees and arrived in a separate valley where he could see the sonar fence surrounding the village. He ran toward it and knelt down by one of the dividers, taking out a sheet of paper and copying the numbers on the paper into the outlet at the bottom. Since the numbers changed every day, he had to find a way to get the numbers for each day. He'd managed to pick-pocket Horace earlier on, however. And without further ado, he stood up and walked past the fence without worry for he knew it'd work. He'd done it so many times already. Once he was past, he ran off into the jungle once again...  
It took a while, but in time he was out of the jungle once again and this time he was by a shore-line. There were many hills and bumpy rocks in which the waves of the ocean splashed against ruthlessly. He walked up a cluster of rocks and knelt down in the shadows. Up ahead he could see it. There was a small village bellow what looked like a giant rock with a big hole in the middle of it. With a smirk, he looked back down at the village where he could see some of the hostiles sleeping and heating fish up over fires on sticks.  
"Right on time." said a voice behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw Richard Alpert with his long, dirty black hair and his black-lined eyes looking down at him with a blank expression on his face. "What do you think?"  
"Not much of a civilization." He said truthfully.  
Richard smiled. "All to true, Ben."  
"Have you spoken to them yet?" Ben asked.  
"Yes, most of them." Richard said, eyeing the village. "But I haven't convinced them all. It'll take more time."  
"When do you think--?" Ben started.  
"Soon." Richard interrupted him.  
"How soon?"  
"I don't know, Ben." Richard said. "Josh still hasn't given any signs of caring about you at all. To him you're nothing but...well, one of them."  
"I'm not one of them." Ben said, frowning darkly. "I hate them."  
"I know, Ben." Richard said, kneeling down. "If I could have my way I'd let you come but...it's Joshua's word, not ours..."  
Ben looked down at the ground in disappointment. Richard patted his shoulder and said "You should head back to your people now."  
"They're not my people..." Ben muttered under his breath, getting up and walking away, back into the jungle to leave Richard watching him in his wake...

**LOST**

Ben opened his eyes and saw the rest of Jack's group taking a break as night began to fall over the island. He watched as Claire held her baby tightly, calming him down and looking around worriedly. He saw Rose sitting by a tree holding her wedding ring with a smile on her face. Sun was talking with Kate and Jack was looking around to check his bearings. And then Ben saw Rousseau and Alex walk by. He watched with interest as they sat down and talked. He was somehow glad to see that they were getting along. He'd known Alex for sixteen years and even though he wasn't her real father like he'd lied to her about, she still meant something to him. Even if she wasn't of great importance, he was glad to see her getting along with her mother at the least.  
Ben was taken out of his trail of thought when Jack took a seat next to him with a heavy sigh. "Hey there, Ben." He said.  
"Hello, Jack." Ben said, looking down at his feet.  
"We're about to head off soon." Jack said, looking around at his people. "And there's just one thing I wanted to ask."  
"What's that...?" Ben asked without looking up.  
"Why didn't you kill Sayid, Jin, and Bernard when you had the chance?" Jack asked, looking at him with narrowed eyes. Ben looked at him as well and smiled.  
"Well for one, we're not cold-blooded murders." He said simply. "We could've used them as prisoners. Not only that, but I was actually expecting you to say stop and hand over the radio to me. I had no idea you were willing to kill off your own people just to get what you wanted..."  
Jack frowned, not liking this answer at all. "I was doing it for everyone, not--"  
"You did it for yourself, Jack." Ben interrupted him. "And you can go ahead and beat me up again like a school-yard bully if you really wish but...you're going to regret not listening to my proposal in the end."  
Jack stood up and walked away, unable to be around him anymore as he headed toward Kate, glaring back at Ben who continued to sit against the tree with a monotone expression on his face.  
"How'd it go?" Kate asked.  
"How do you think?" Jack muttered. "We're moving out. Get everyone together."

That night, the dharma van was park at the top of a valley. They had stopped because at night it would have been too dangerous to be driving through the forest. Juliet and Sayid both knew the way to the village making their drive there easier but at the moment everyone was asleep. Everyone except Sawyer, who sat inside the van with his arms down by his side. He was staring at the ceiling with a disgruntled expression, thinking of what he'd done a few days earlier thanks to Locke. And then he thought of what Kate had said to him, about how he'd been acting recently. He couldn't blame her. He knew how he was acting, but he didn't care. His goal in life had been completed on the one place he'd never had expected to complete it on. With a sigh, he looked down and nearly jumped when he found Juliet looking at him from across the van with a blanket over her shoulders.  
"Hi." She whispered with a smile.  
"Hi, yourself." Sawyer muttered in a low growl.  
"Can't sleep either?" She asked, adjusting herself against the wall, keeping her voice low in case she woke up the other four.  
"How can I?" Sawyer said. "What-with you asking me questions every five minutes it's kind of difficult to count the sheep, darlin'."  
Juliet's smile widened. "I'm sorry if I seemed to be getting too personal for you." She said. "But you're the only one here who seems to be having some kind of conflict still."  
"I'm fine." Sawyer grumbled, looking away.  
"You can keep saying that...But when you can't look me in the eye and say that...That's when I know you're lying." Juliet said, catching his eye as he frowned guiltily. "I saw you fight with Kate right before we left the group...I heard you...you couldn't even look her in the eye when you spoke--"  
"Shut up..." Sawyer hissed.  
Juliet blinked, ignoring his rudeness and saying "James, if you feel sorry or guilty about something...the best thing to do would be to talk to Kate about it...Nothing can ruin a relationship like a secret."  
"Thanks, Opera." Sawyer muttered, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. Despite looking like he didn't care what she had to say, Juliet could tell by the way he shifted uncomfortably in his place that he was thinking of her words. And with that, she closed her eyes and peacefully went to sleep as well.

Claire walked up to Rousseau as their large group hiked through the jungle in a line. Aaron was asleep in her arms as she caught up to the French woman and Alex. "Hey, Alex..." She said.  
Alex stopped and looked at her for a moment before smiling. "Hi...Claire." She said.  
"Um...I-I just wanted to thank you." Claire said awkwardly. "Y'know...for helping me get away from that hatch...and Ethan."  
Alex smiled and said "Don't worry about it."  
"I just wanted you to know...I'm glad you helped me...Even if I seemed a little reluctant." Claire said, smiling weakly.  
"Well they drugged you." Alex said. "You weren't thinking clearly, obviously."  
"Yeah..." Claire agreed with a little nod. "Thanks."  
"Yeah." Alex said and with that, they continued onward with the rest of the group.  
Ben was being led by Jack now in the front of the group. He was tired, bloody, beaten, and defeated, but still somehow managed to find the strength to keep moving his legs. As he did so, he looked over his shoulder briefly and saw, to his great surprise, John Locke following the group in the back.  
"Ah..." Ben said, catching Jack's attention.  
"What?" Jack asked. "Keep moving."  
"Nothing, it's just..." Ben smirked, looking down at his feet as he walked. "John is still with us. I mean, he did just try to shoot you after-all..."  
Jack frowned but didn't look back to see if he was lying.  
"Kind of odd..." Ben said. "I wonder where he got his gun."  
"Shut up." Jack muttered.  
"We're here." Kate said, looking up ahead of them.  
The group came to a halt in a clear valley. Ahead of them were the tall posts sticking out of the grass making the sonar fence that surrounded the other's old village. Jack, Kate, and Ben all walked forward in front of the group and stood in front of the fence.  
"Juliet gave you the code, right?" Kate asked.  
"Yeah." Jack said, handing Kate the rope to hold Ben and bending over in front of the nearest post. He examined it closely for a few seconds before finding a panel box and opening it. Typing in 4-9-1-3-2 into the box. He stood up and looked around.  
"How do you know Juliet didn't lie to you?" Ben said suddenly. They all looked at him accusingly.  
"What do you mean?" Kate questioned.  
"Juliet doesn't know this, but I changed the code to the fence." Ben smirked evilly.  
Jack studied him for a second as the rest of the group exchanged glances of fright. A few people were muttering with disgust.  
"We'll just have to see about that." Jack said. "Won't we." He grabbed the scruff of Ben's collar and led him toward the fence.  
"Jack!" Kate yelled.  
"Don't!" Jack told her, forcing him in front of them and shoving him toward the fence.  
"Jack." Ben said calmly.  
"If you changed it, then walk through and we can see for ourselves." Jack spat.  
"If I do that I will die!" Ben said loudly.  
"Well that's a risk I'm willing to take!" Jack said angrily.  
"If I die, how do you plan on getting through, Jack?" Ben asked, looking at him expectantly.  
"We'll find a way." Jack said. "Now go through!"  
Ben looked at Jack, shaking his head in disappointment before facing the invisible barrier between the two closest posts. Without another word, he walked forward...

**FLASHBACK**

The teenage Ben sat in a cafeteria with a carton of white milk and a sandwich on his plate. Across from him sat a girl his age with long, blonde hair. They were laughing heartedly about some joke one of them must've made as they ate their lunches in peace as dharma people walked past them carrying their food and taking seats at tables to talk about their day and their lives off the island.  
"My dad is taking me outside the village to go see this new station called the "Staff" or something." Annie was saying to him as she ate a potato chip. "It's supposed to be some sort of medical station or something and since I want to be a doctor once I'm old enough he's going to show me some of the stuff they do there."  
"That's cool." Ben said, smiling and drinking his milk.  
"You know, Ben." Annie said. "You're a lot more talkative lately. Is there something going on with you?"  
Ben's smile faltered a little but he shook his head. "No, there's nothing."  
Annie smiled and looked down at her food. "I've always wanted to get out of this village for once. Sometimes I like to sit down by the fence and just look at the mountains."  
"You shouldn't be doing that, Annie." Ben smirked.  
"Oh like you can talk." Annie rolled her eyes, making him look up at her in surprise.  
"I beg your pardon?" He asked.  
"I beg your pardon" She mocked him with a little laugh. "I've seen you looking at the mountains during class. I can tell, Ben..."  
Ben didn't smile this time, taking a bite of his sandwich in silence. When he was finished he muttered "I didn't know you watched me."  
"I've always watched you...Ben." Annie said, making him look at her in surprise. She turned red and looked down.  
There was an awkward silence between them for a few minutes as Ben wiped his mouth clean and took another drink of his milk. She looked away for a few seconds giving him time to stare at her safely, as if contemplating something in his head.  
"Annie..." He said finally.  
"Yeah?" She said, glancing at him.  
"Would you like to know a secret?" Ben asked.

**End of Flashback**

Ben paused in front of the fence for a moment or two before slowly taking a step through. He paused again and took another step, wondering briefly how many times he must've walked through this fence wondering if it'd be the last step he ever took. But today was not his day it seemed as he made it all the way through.  
He turned around, as if to explain to Jack why he lied but before he could say anything, Jack was already there and the next thing he knew he felt a great pain in the side of his face as he was knocked to the ground and fresh blood gushed from his nose and cheek.  
"That's for lying." Jack growled, picking him up forcefully by his collar and making him stand.  
"Jack..." Kate muttered, grabbing his shoulder soothingly but he shrugged her off.  
"If he's going to continue lying to us I'm going to beat him each time!" Jack shouted. "Maybe he'll finally learn to tell the truth for once!"  
"Jack." Kate said again, not liking his attitude at all, even if he was right.  
"He doesn't deserve any second chances, Kate!" Jack said. "I think he's proved that to us."  
Ben's eyes were half-closed as he stood there being held tightly by Jack. He was forced forward as Jack lead the group through the fence and into the forest on the other side where the village lay just over yonder. In the back of the group, Locke stood watching with a frown on his face and his arms crossed as he contemplated something...

Jack led his group through the forest in silence, his mind bubbling with anger toward Ben as they merged through the bushes and into the infamous otherville. People who hadn't been there to see it before looked at it in amazement, unable to believe that there was a civilization on their island the whole time they've been there.  
"Everyone stay here." Jack told the group. "Kate, Rousseau and I are going to check out all the houses and make sure they're safe and that this place has been completely evacuated.  
Ben smiled, amused by their precautions. Of course, after the little stunt he pulled by the fence he couldn't really blame them. And so the three of them set off and explored each of the homes, turning on the lights and looking around. Everything looked a mess because it had been evacuated not that long ago.  
When they returned and told them the coast was clear, everyone walked around eagerly and still cautious. They were looking for a place to sleep for the night until the next morning when Sayid's group arrived.  
Jack forced Ben through a pair of double doors that entered into the very same room where Kate had been tied up. There was a pool table along with a few posters here and there hanging loosely from the walls. Jack took the rope and tied it to one of the legs of the pool table, forcing Ben down on his knees.  
"Good night, Jack." Ben said as Jack started to walk away. He didn't respond. Instead he slammed the doors behind him in frustration.

**FLASHBACK**

The teenage Ben was running full speed through the jungle, breathing heavily as he sprinted out from between two big trees and arrived into the hilly area by the ocean's shore where the giant rock with the hole in the middle stood standing over the hostile's village. He crouched down and cat-crawled along the rocks until he got to where the giant stone formation stood. Richard Alpert was standing there, looking back at his village with a worried expression. "You're late, for once." He muttered.  
"Sorry, my father wouldn't shut up." Ben said shortly. "Did you talk to Joshua?"  
"Yeah." Richard said. "It's been difficult, Ben...he's a very suspicious man and doesn't trust you, or me to be exact." He added with a slight chuckle. Ben did not return the smile making Richard's expression fall at once.  
"Well I have another request to make." Ben said in a serious tone.  
"What?" Richard raised his eyebrows.  
"There's this girl..." Ben said, lowering his eyes because he knew just from saying that, that Richard would start assuming something that he really did not want to discuss with him. "And she's a lot like me, she wants to be free from my people and wants to know more about this island. I think it'd be fine to have her come with me when we eventually take dharma over."  
Richard sighed through his nose and put on a grim smile. "What's her name?"  
Ben paused for a second. "Annie..."  
"Look, Ben." Richard started but Ben already knew the answer from the tone of his voice. "Convincing Joshua to let one of you come with us is one thing, but to bring you and another...it...it doesn't seem very possible to me."  
Ben frowned, not liking this answer at all. "I want to meet him."  
"What?" Richard asked, taken aback.  
"I want to meet Joshua." Ben said again. "Can you arrange a meeting for us?"  
"Ben, I don't think--"  
"Can you!?" Ben demanded angrily.  
Richard frowned. "Yeah...I can."  
"Good." Ben said. "Tell him I'll be waiting for him at the "temple" tomorrow at 8:00pm."  
"Joshua isn't just someone you demand meetings with, Ben." Richard told him warningly. "He's our leader and has been on this island longer than anyone else here. He has a high authority over our people and if you get on his bad side...you can die."  
"That's a risk I'm willing to take." Ben muttered, turning his back on his friend and walking off into the jungle.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Ben awoke with a start to a noise outside the front doors to his room. There was someone standing there on the other side. He gulped and looked around, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as the doors opened and someone stepped inside.  
"Who's there?" Ben called out calmly as the shadow of the man came closer to him. And then Ben saw his face reflected in the moonlight from outside.  
It was John Locke. He was standing over him with a knife in his hands and a gun sticking out of the back of his pants. He was frowning down at Ben with such a hateful stare Ben wondered whether or not Locke had become truly insane overnight.  
"Have you come to kill me for what I did to you, John?" Ben asked, looking down.  
"No, Ben." Locke said and a smile stretched across his face. "I've come to free you."  
Ben blinked and looked slowly up at him with a questioning stare. "Why?"  
"Because." Locke said, bending over and cutting the rope with his knife around the pool table's leg and standing him upright but keeping his hands tied. "I'm going to take you back to your people and we're going to have a nice little chat with them about what you've been doing."  
Ben stared at Locke with his mouth slightly open in surprise, unable to say a word as Locke looked back at him with a vengeful smirk. "And I've got a feeling..." John continued. "That they're not going to like what they hear."

Jack awoke in a bed inside of his house to the sound of murmuring outside. He rolled over, fully-clothed and ran out the front door. Everyone was gathered around talking in animated whispers of shock and disbelief.  
"What's going on?" Jack asked breathlessly.  
Kate approached him looking confused and afraid. "Ben and Locke, they're gone!"  
"What?" Jack said in disbelief.  
"Locke, he's gone." Kate said. "So is Ben. It looks like he was cut loose!"  
Jack frowned, looking out into the jungle that surrounded the village in anger. Reaching to his waist to grab something he fumbled around with his hands but found nothing. He looked down in surprise and growled under his breath.  
"What is it?" Kate asked worriedly.  
"The walkie-talkie." Jack said. "It's gone."

Locke led Ben through the sonar fence after deactivating it briefly once again. They continued on into the jungle in silence for awhile, while Ben looked down, his eyes traveling back in forth as if thinking fast. Locke was behind him pointing the gun at his back. There was a smirk on his face to show that he was somehow enjoying this.  
"How does it feel to be bound and captured once again?" John asked finally.  
Ben rolled his eyes and muttered "It's wonderful, John. You should try it sometime."  
Ben continued in silence for a moment before saying over his shoulder "Besides the obvious, is there a specific reason you're doing this?"  
"Doing what?" Locke asked, tilting his head.  
"Going against your people, bringing me back to mine." Ben said. "And acting out in revenge for me shooting you at the grave...It just isn't like you, John."  
"You don't know the real me." Locke said coldly.  
"I think I do." Ben disagreed. "I'm sure you'd love to kill me with that gun of yours...but if you can't even kill the man who ruined your life then how do you expect to kill me?"  
Locke chuckled under his breath. "Your mind games are useless." He said. "You can try them on Jack and get beaten senseless as many times as you want but nothing you can possibly say will change my mind."  
"Change your mind about what?" Ben asked, looking at him weakly.  
"You embarrassed me in front of all of your people." Locke said. "Richard told me that was your plan. You knew I wasn't going to kill my 'father' and you were certainly not expecting me to come back with his body on my shoulder."  
Ben paused for a second in silence. "You're sure right about that." He admitted in a monotone.  
"You think you know everything, but you don't." Locke said. "And you certainly do not know me."

**FLASHBACK**

Ben tapped on a window, peering through the glass. It was still very dark outside. He waited patiently until there was a click and the window rose upward. Annie was standing there behind it looking out at him with a tired expression.  
"Ben? Wha--?" She started with a yawn.  
"Annie, I've got a surprise for you." Ben said with a smile.  
"What?"  
"Just come with me."  
"Where?"  
"Just trust me." Ben said, holding his hand out to her.  
Annie cast a nervous glance over her shoulder. "This better be good, Ben." She said as she jumped out her window gracefully and landed next to him.  
A few minutes later he was leading her through the jungle at a quick speed where she could barely catch up to him. "What is this about, Ben!?" Annie called up to him.  
"Remember the secret I told you about?" He asked.  
"Yeah?"  
They emerged out into the valley where the sonar fence stood in front of them. Ben turned and looked at her with an eager smile on his face. "I talked to him." He said.  
"Who--that Richard guy?" Annie asked with a raised eyebrow.  
"I know, I went out last night and he said he can hook me up a meeting with their leader, Joshua." Ben told her hastily.  
"What?" Annie said in shock.  
"I'm taking you to see him with me. Maybe we can join them and--"  
"Whoa, wait, whoa, Ben." Annie said, holding her hands up in front of her. "You said you talked to one of them but you didn't tell me you were going to join with them!"  
Ben's face fell slightly. "I didn't want to tell you until I was sure, and now that I can go, I can take you with me!"  
But somehow, Annie wasn't acting as delighted as he'd hoped for. In fact, she looked outrage. He looked at her confused at first as she eyed the sonar beams and then looked back at him with her mouth open. "Ben, this is insane!"  
"What?" Ben asked, taken aback.  
"We can't just 'join' with them! They're the enemies!" Annie said. "They're just a bunch of hill-billies running around in the jungle. How could you possibly think this is a good idea!"  
"I thought you would like--" Ben started, blinking in confusion. How was this happening?  
"You thought I'd come with you!" Annie said loudly. "I can't join them! I have a family here! I can't just leave them!"  
"But-But I thought you--" Ben stuttered.  
"You're crazy!!" Annie said, glaring at him. "You think I'd actually want to leave this place for them!?"  
"I thought you would leave for ME!!!" Ben yelled at last, outraged as well by this shocking turn of events.  
Annie's face fell, shaking her head as if disappointed. "Then you don't know me, Ben..." She turned and walked back into the jungle, raising her hand to her mouth as she slowly disappeared between the trees and into the darkness. Ben remained standing in the valley, watching her go with wide, horrified eyes. A tear slid down his face before he slowly turned and walked in the opposite direction toward the sonar fence...

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Ben stopped in his tracks, forcing Locke to stop behind him. He turned and looked at him with a grim expression. "John..." He muttered. "You once made a decision, didn't you...?"  
"Excuse me?" Locke asked with a raised eyebrow, holding the gun up cautiously in front of him.  
"You made a decision once..." Ben said. "Between the person you loved most and the thing you wanted most..."  
Locke blinked, at first wondering how Ben could have possibly known about Helen but then remembering quickly that the others had profiles about each of them. "Yes..." He said. "Why?"  
"I had to make that decision once as well..." Ben sighed. "Though I was considerably younger than you when I made it...but..." He smiled weakly and looked at him. "We both ended up making the same mistake in thinking we could have both..."  
"Why are you telling me this?" Locke asked with a frown.  
"I gave up the only person I've ever loved for this island." Ben said. "And I suffered the consequences...I've never been given a second chance..."  
Locke studied him quietly as Ben talked. It was the first time he'd ever heard the man before him talk so sincerely. He wasn't sure if he could even believe what he was hearing.  
"The decision I made..." Ben went on. "Cost me everything...and now the only thing I have left are the people I control because of that decision. And if you, John, tell those people the truth about what I did...they won't trust me anymore. I will have lost the only thing I have left..."  
Locke's frown tightened. "And why, Ben, should I care?"  
"Because John...you were given a second chance with this island." Ben said. "I will never get a second chance...so please, John...I beg of you, please...do not tell them the truth."  
Ben's hands shook as he looked at him, blinking back tears as Locke studied his face with narrowed eyes.  
"You're pathetic..." Locke muttered, with a mix of pity and disgust in his tone as he walked on past Ben, forcing him along in his wake.

**FLASHBACK**

Ben walked down the hills of the rocky beach by the rushing waves toward the hostile's village under the giant rock formation in the distance. His eyes were wide behind his round glasses and his hands were hanging limply down by his side. They were stained crimson with blood...  
As he approached the village and the sun started to rise overhead, Ben saw Richard run up to him from the center of the town looking shocked and in a panic. More of the hostiles were waking up in their beds, including the woman known as Mrs. Klugh, Mikhail, Tom, Pickett, Brian, Ethan, Goodwin, and many others until around forty of them surrounded Ben from all sides.  
"Ben! What are you doing here?" Richard asked, walking up to him cautiously.  
Ben simply smiled and looked at them all. Mikhail still had two eyes, Tom wasn't so large and he really did have somewhat of a beard growing. They all looked a lot younger.  
There were a few murmurs from around the group as they all discussed what was going on. "His hands are bloody..." Mikhail observed, crossing his arms.  
"Where's Joshua?" Richard asked urgently, looking at Ben's hands and then up at his face. "What did you do?"  
"I killed him..." Ben said quietly.  
There were a few gasps from the crowd and a cry out outrage. Their leader was dead...by a mere teenage boy?  
"What?" Richard asked, unable to believe his ears. "You killed him! That wasn't the agreement, Ben!"  
"He tried to kill me." Ben said simply.  
"Why didn't you just run!" Richard said, running his hands through his hair as a few angry whispers were heard amongst the crowd.  
"Because he wasn't going to let me join you." Ben said simply. "And I wasn't going to let anyone get in the way of me leaving _them_..."  
There was a silence amongst the group as they all looked at the teenage boy before them. "Why, Ben...?" Richard asked, shaking his head.  
"Because I want to be rid of them just as much as all of you do!" Ben shouted, this time to everyone. "And I'm the only one here who can go in and out of their village! You can kill me now if you want, I honestly have nothing left right now. But you should know that if I am killed, it will only enrage them and will cause even more fighting!"  
"So unless you all can trust me." Ben said at last, looking at them all as if daring them to defy him. "You will all die."

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Ben and Locke arrived at last in the clearing where the other's camp was. But there was something wrong. All of the tents were gone and nobody was there except for an abandoned fire pit and a few debris hanging about.  
Locke turned his gun and pointed it into Ben's neck. "Where are they!?" He demanded ruthlessly.  
"Calm down, John..." Ben sighed.  
"Where!?"  
"I'll take you there." Ben said. "But you have to promise me something!"  
Locke frowned, taking his gun off him. "First you must untie my hands." Ben said. "And then you must give me your word that you will not tell my people the truth about me."  
Locke considered him quietly for a moment before saying "Alright, but on one more condition."  
"Fine." Ben sighed as Locke moved behind him and took out a knife to cut his binds. "You will answer everything that I want to know before we leave."  
"What?" Ben asked.  
"Do it or I will bring you back to my people and let them have their way with you." Locke said. "Because I had a feeling you were going to pull something like this so I came prepared." He reached into his back-pocket and pulled out the walkie-talkie that Jack had once carried. "All I have to do is switch signals and call them to find out where they are."  
Ben frowned. "Why did you do that...?"  
"Because I wanted to see you beg." Locke said coldly. "I wanted to embarrass you not in front of your people but in front of me. I wanted to see the real Benjamin Linus."  
Ben frowned, glaring at Locke in spite of himself.  
"And now," Locke said. "I want to know everything you can tell me."

**LOST**

**Next time on LOST**

**4x03: Parting of the ways. (Kate + Sawyer Centric)  
Turmoil amongst the survivors rise when half of the group wants to continue north and the other half wants to go after Locke and the 'others'. Meanwhile, Kate and Sawyer reunite and have problems of their own...**

I hope to get more reviews for this chapter. Even constructive criticism will do. '


	3. Parting of the Ways

**4x03: Parting of the Ways (Kate + Sawyer centric)**

The dark haired beauty sat on a chair in the dark wearing nothing but a tank-top and a pair of short-shorts. She was looking down at a piece of paper in her hands with a teary-eyed expression, reading through it as if for the third time in the row. A single tear slid down her face in silence before lowering the paper and looking up into the mirror in front of her.  
"Kate?" said a voice behind her.  
She didn't move at first, bringing her wrist up quickly to wipe away her tears before turning to look at the source of the voice lying in a bed behind her.  
"What's wrong?" Sawyer asked, leaning forward in the bed wearing nothing under the white sheets. He reached to turn a lamp on but Kate got up making him freeze in place.  
"Nothing's wrong." She told him, putting on a smile.  
Sawyer frowned at her in silence as she crawled into the bed with him, crumbling up the piece of paper in her hands and stuffing it under a pillow. Sawyer looked at her for a moment as she lay there without looking at him before resting his head back into the pillow and falling asleep. Kate blinked, staring into the darkness around her bedroom before closing her eyes and forgetting about what she had read.

**END OF FLASH-FORWARD**

Kate looked up as the morning sun began to rise over the mountains giving the island a beautiful glow of orange over the forest tree's in the distance. Everyone was standing around talking amongst themselves in a panic at what was going on. Jack was walking toward her looking forlorn and annoyed.  
"Well?" Kate asked.  
"They're not here." He said, shaking his head. "I checked all the buildings. Both of them are gone."  
"How could they just be gone!?" Sun asked.  
"How did he escape?" Claire asked worriedly.  
"Look, everyone just calm down!" Jack said to them loudly, putting his hands up in the air and motioning for them all to stop. But they didn't stop. More and more people were beginning to discuss their theories. Some were reasonable, and others got so ridiculous that one thought the 'monster' had come and eaten them while they were all asleep.  
And then they were all stopped abruptly by a loud sound coming from the jungle. They all turned and looked down-hill where, in the distance they could see the big, rolling dharma van was tumbling up toward them honking its' horn with Hurley yelling behind the wheel and laughing.  
"It's them!" Sun said, her eyes lighting up.  
And the mood of the camp changed at once to everyone being worried to everyone being overjoyed. They all cheered and waved as the van stopped in front of them and Hurley stepped out smiling and cheering along with the rest of them. Sayid came out next followed by Juliet, both of whom approached Jack. Jin and Bernard came out from the back and were immediately met by both of their wives who embraced them in an overwhelming hug of relief. Sawyer was the last to clamber out and close the doors of the van behind them. He looked around the group for a moment before catching the eye of Kate. He gave her a small smile and she returned it before he looked down at his feet and climbed up the hill to join the rest of the reunion.  
"Jack!" Sayid yelled through all the cheering. "Jack! Where are Ben and Locke?"  
The cheering and laughing quieted down as they all looked at Jack, who sighed and said "They're gone."

**LOST**

"Alright, everyone." Jack said, facing his group of people as they all quieted down. "I need most of you to search the perimeter by the fence and see if you can find Locke or Ben. If you see or hear anything come back here and tell me."  
There were a few murmurs from them as they all turned and walked down the hill and began to search for the missing duo. Claire went with Sun while Jin stayed by the van, unloading the few guns they had left along with some of their baggage.  
"Jack." Sayid said, approaching him. "What will we do if they can't find him?"  
Jack sighed and shook his head. "Then we leave. Continue heading north."  
"What?" Kate said in shock.  
"Look, it's not my fault Locke decided to go out somewhere with Ben into the jungle." Jack said. "But last time I checked, he tried to shoot me, prevent us from leaving the island...as far as I'm concerned he's one of them now."  
"Jack--" Kate started.  
"I am done with Locke." Jack said, a little fiercely this time before walking away leaving Kate watching his back with a worried expression.

Sun and Claire were walking along the forest-line by the sonar fence looking around and talking together with smiles on their faces.  
"I'm glad Jin is back." Sun admitted. "I hate it when I'm apart from him."  
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Claire said shortly, looking down at Aaron and stroking his belly making him laugh merrily.  
Sun looked at her for a moment or two before saying "Charlie will be alright."  
Claire blinked and looked at Sun before nodding and saying "Yeah...I know."  
Sun smiled as they continued on through the jungle in a small awkward silence. Claire broke it by saying "Hey, you should be with your husband right now."  
"You think so?" Sun asked brightly.  
"Yeah, go on." Claire said, nodding her head.  
"Here, let me take Aaron up for you."  
"Ok." Claire sighed, kissing her baby on the forehead sweetly before handing her off to the Korean woman. "I'll be back in a bit, I just want to be alone."  
"Ok, see you soon." Sun said, walking back up into the clearing toward the village.  
Claire crossed her arms and walked through the grass with her eyes down at her feet thinking deeply about something. She was a little happy now that Sun was gone. She didn't want to keep talking about Charlie. It seemed easier to just keep it all to herself. And then...  
"Claire..."  
Claire stopped in her tracks, looking up in shock. On the other side of the Sonar fence stood none other than Charlie.  
"Claire..." He said again, his eyes wide. He was drenched in water dripping from every corner of his body. His eyes were sunken and dead-looking and his skin was extremely pale.  
Claire blinked, freezing in place and feeling a numb tingling go down her spine. "Ch-Charlie!?" She stuttered in disbelief. "Wha-what're you doing here?" She took a step forward toward the fence.  
"Don't!" Charlie said, raising his hands up and waving them warningly. "You can't cross the fence right now, Claire."  
"What are you..." She paused, remembering that the fence was a sonar fence and stopped. "Charlie...how...what's going on? Where's Desmond?"  
"Claire, listen to me." Charlie said quickly. "You have to stay off that ship!"  
"Charlie, wha--?"  
"The ship is dangerous! You have to stay off of it." Charlie said wide-eyed and mad looking. "You have to stay here, on this island for the baby's sake! The baby is in danger!"  
"What're you talking about?" Claire asked, unable to believe what was going on. "Charlie!?"  
Charlie began to walk backwards into the jungle giving her one sad look before disappearing between the trees. "Charlie!!" Claire called out desperately. "CHARLIE!!!"

Claire ran up the hill to the village, wiping sweat from her forehead and looking around screaming "Jack!! Jack!!!"  
Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid all came to her aid at once, Jack in the lead as he grabbed her shoulders and she fell against him.  
"Claire, what?" Kate asked.  
"Did you find them?" Jack asked, trying to catch her eye.  
"No." Claire said, shaking. "It was Charlie!"  
"What?" Jack blinked.  
"Charlie, he was out in the jungle!" Claire said, pointing a quivering finger into the jungle behind her. "Just on the other side of the fence! He was there!"  
"Claire..." Jack said, shaking his head with a sigh.  
"He was right there!!!" Claire screamed.  
Jack looked over at Sun, holding the baby in her arms looking shocked. "Weren't you with her?" He asked.  
"I came up here to take care of Aaron." Sun said defensively.  
"He said-he said..." Claire went on.  
"Hurley, take her into a house and keep her there until she calms down." Jack told him, ignoring Claire's mumbling.  
"He was there!" Claire yelled.  
"Where is he now, then?" Jack asked.  
"He-he left." Claire said, shaking her head as tears burned her eyes. How could he not believe her?  
Jack let go of her and looked down into the forest. "If you really saw Charlie then why would he turn around? And where was Desmond?"  
"I-I don't know." Claire gasped, Hurley putting an arm around her awkwardly and leading her toward a house to calm her down a bit.  
"Jack?" Kate asked, joining his side. "You don't think she saw him, do you?"  
"She might've been hallucinating..." Jack sighed. "It wouldn't be the first time that happened to us..."  
"What do you mean?" Kate questioned.  
"We've all seen things on this island, Kate." Jack said. "To be honest I'm not the least bit surprised."  
Kate looked over at Sawyer to see what he thought of all this and saw him staring right back at her with somewhat of a longing expression. When she caught him, he looked away, pretending to be looking out into the jungle instead.

**FLASH-FORWARD**

Sawyer awoke with a start on the couch to the sound of a phone ringing loudly nearby. He grumbled to himself, swinging his legs over the sofa's edge just as the answering machine went "Beep!" Sawyer sighed, leaning his head back against the sofa. And then he froze at what he heard.  
"Hey...It's me..." said a man's voice.  
Sawyer blinked. It sounded somewhat familiar and yet... He glared at the machine on the table next to him as there was a pause and then the man said "I just read..." There was another long pause and then a click to show that he'd hung up.  
Sawyer had no clue who that message was from which meant it must've been for Kate... He stared at the machine for a long time with a frown on his face while worrisome thoughts entered his head.  
The front door suddenly opened and he jumped, reaching for the machine.  
"Hey." said the sound of Kate's voice entering their home. "Who's the message from?"  
Sawyer rested his forefinger upon the delete button, as if considering the matter for a moment before saying "Nobody..." and pressing down on it.

**END OF FLASH-FORWARD**

Jack stood by the edge of the hill looking north. There was a single mountain up ahead of them where the ocean lay just beyond it. Sayid walked up to him and stopped by his side. The ex-Iraqi soldier sighed and crossed his arms, looking north as well.  
"You want to continue heading north. Right, Jack?" Sayid asked without looking at him.  
"Yeah." Jack nodded. "I don't see any reason not too."  
"Then that is where I must disagree with you." Sayid said, looking down.  
"What?" Jack asked, taken aback. "Sayid..."  
"There is a good chance that Locke let Ben go, indeed..." Sayid said "But Locke is not a fool. He took Ben into that jungle looking for something...And personally, I do not want to leave this island knowing there are still more of the others left alive."  
"And why is that?" Jack asked with a frown.  
"Because none of them deserve to be alive." Sayid said, a hint of disgust in his tone.  
In the distance, Sawyer and Kate were putting their backpacks on and watching the two men talk on the hill.  
"So, what do you think?" Sawyer asked.  
"What do I think about what?" Kate repeated with a raised eyebrow.  
"About the whole 'moving north' idea." Sawyer said.  
"Do I need an opinion?" Kate questioned him.  
Sawyer smirked, looking down as she turned away from him and he followed her. "Well..." He said. "Personally, I think we should forget about Johnny Locke. Let him do his own damn thing. If he's got a vendetta with ol' Bug Eyes then I don't want to be the man to get between them."  
"Not everyone has a vendetta like you, Sawyer." Kate said, her voice growing cold.  
Sawyer's face fell when she said this. He opened his mouth to respond but was unable to speak and fell into silence instead...

Claire sat by a tree in the village staring into the grass with a glazed expression. Hurley approached her and took a seat carefully down next to her, eyeing Aaron being held limply in her arms.  
"Hey..." Hugo greeted.  
She didn't even move to respond to his greeting. Instead she remained rooted to the spot staring off into the distance. But this did not dishevel Hurley whatsoever.  
"So...heard about what happened." He said. "You mind telling me what's up?"  
"You won't believe me..." Claire muttered. "Jack doesn't. Nobody does..."  
Hurley smiled. "Try me. I can tell you some pretty crazy stuff too. Like how I thought the plane crash was my fault, and how I was being stalked by these crazy numbers for a while, and don't even get me started on how much I'm worth in the real world."  
He chuckled to himself but stopped shortly when she saw her give him an exasperated look. "You can tell me." Hurley said.  
"I saw Charlie by the fence." Claire sighed. "And he told me that I had to stay on the island with Aaron...and that he was in danger if I left..."  
"Sounds like what that crazy Ben guy was talking about." Hurley muttered.  
Claire nodded, looking down at Aaron. "I'm sure of what I saw...but I don't know...when I saw him he looked..." She stopped, unable to complete her sentence and say the word "Dead" for it was the one thing she refused to think about. It just couldn't be true.  
Hurley seemed to understand, however, and looked down at his knees unsure of what to say next.

Sayid stood strapping his backpack over his shoulder and looking on into the jungle ahead of him. Kate came up to his side holding a rifle out for him with a friendly grin. He took it with a smile.  
"I assume you're coming as well?" He asked.  
"Yeah." Kate nodded.  
"May I ask why?"  
"For the same reason you are going."  
Sawyer stood watching them strap up and get ready to go. He frowned darkly, wanting to run up and stop her from leaving but knowing it would be pointless. He turned to walk away when he suddenly noticed Juliet watching him from a distance. There was an odd moment where they both looked at each other and then Sawyer suddenly realized what he had to do.  
"You ready?" Sayid asked.  
"Yeah." Kate nodded.  
"Does Jack know you're coming?"  
"Since when do I need Jack's permission to do anything?" Kate asked and Sayid smiled.  
"Nice philosophy there, freckles." Sawyer said, joining their side.  
Kate looked at him in surprised, hearing the word freckles again somehow made her see Sawyer in the new light. "What are you doing here?" She asked.  
"Much as I'd love to get rescued and all, I owe our great hunter a favor." Sawyer smirked at her. "So I'm coming too."  
"Alright." Sayid said, failing to come up with a reason for him not to.  
"Besides." Sawyer said as Sayid started off into the jungle. "What've I got to lose, right?" He walked past Kate and after Sayid while Kate watched him with raised eyebrows before following them into the jungle as well.

**FLASH-FORWARD**

Kate parked her car by the edge of a road and stepped out. She was wearing jeans and a black coat along with a pair of sun-glasses. She took them off and set them on the dashboard inside of her car before locking the door with her keys and walking down the side-walk past a couple of people wearing suits. Her black hair was tied up in a pony-tail behind her head and she looked pretty good looking considering the place she was heading off to.  
About five minutes later, Kate was standing before a tomb-stone sticking out of the ground. She was in a graveyard during the middle of the day and there were hundreds of tomb-stones all around her with names and dates printed upon them revealing the age of the person lying beneath the ground.  
Kate looked at the grave with wide eyes for a moment or two, unsure of what to do or say. She fumbled with something in her pocket before pulling out a piece of a newspaper. Kneeling down, she sat beside the grave with a sigh. "Hey..." She muttered. "I'm sorry I didn't make it to the funeral...I just read...I mean..." She paused again, looking down at her feet in silence. "I'm sorry...I'm really sorry for..."  
And then tears began to stream down her eyes. "I'm sorry I wasn't there when...I should've been there..." She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeves. "I'm so sorry...When I read it in the newspaper I...I didn't want to believe it...and then...I..." She paused for a second and said "I saw Jack again...and he told me about what happened and I...I just wanted to let you know that I forgave you for what happened and I hope you can forgive me too...And I just wanted to...to thank you for everything you did. If it wasn't for you I don't know what would've happened if...If..."  
She sighed, unable to go on any longer. She stood up and turned around, leaving the grave behind her...

**END OF FLASH-FORWARD**

Jack sat by a house drinking his bottle of water with a grumpy expression on his face. Juliet turned a corner and saw him. "May I sit down?" She asked.  
He looked at her for a moment before nodding and she took a seat next to him.  
"You're mad that they left, aren't you?" Juliet said, smiling.  
Jack frowned, putting his bottle back into his bag. "Doesn't matter." He said. "We can't wait any longer. That ship is going to be at that beach by the end of the day and we're all going to be there with or without them..." He stood up slowly, sliding his back-pack over his shoulder.  
"Do you plan on waiting for them?" Juliet asked.  
"Yeah." Jack nodded. "We'll wait."  
"Because you have a lot of people spread out on this island right now." Juliet stood up as well. "And we still haven't heard back from the two men who went to the Looking Glass."  
"They'll be alright." Jack said to her firmly. "But I do want to know something..."  
"What?" Juliet asked, tilting her head curiously.  
"What did Ben tell you about the ship?" Jack asked darkly. "Does he really know anything about it?"  
"I'm sorry, Jack...But I really don't know." Juliet sighed.  
Jack nodded, understanding and walking away.

Sayid, Kate, and Sawyer walked through the jungle, Kate in front as she tried to find the trail of Ben and Locke. Sayid and Sawyer both had rifles in their hands as they looked around the forest trees to make sure they weren't being watched.  
"So what do you think Locke took Ben out for?" Sayid asked.  
"Jack said he's one of them now." Kate muttered.  
"There must've been some other reason, though." Sayid said, stepping around a tree. "Was there anything seemingly different about him?"  
"Yeah..." Kate said, standing up. "There was some kind of wound in his side...like he'd been shot or something. There were blood-stains all over his clothes..."  
"Interesting..." Sayid said with a frown, thinking deeply about this.  
"I found it." Kate announced suddenly. "I think I found their trail."  
"Good. Lead the way." Sayid said.  
Kate nodded and began going down a path between some bushes with Sayid right behind her. Sawyer was lagging behind watching Kate with a kind of pained expression. He hated being on the offs with her, especially right now. He wanted to make her feel better by calling her freckles earlier but somehow he didn't think it worked as well as he'd hoped. And then he remembered what Juliet had told him in the van.  
Opening his mouth to say something, he was abruptly interrupted by a loud booming sound that shook the earth followed by a monstrous groan. It was all too familiar. They all froze in place, looking around in horror.  
"caesar salad!" Sawyer yelled.  
"Run!" Sayid ordered.  
The sounds of the monster surrounded them as Kate and Sawyer took off in one direction and Sayid went in another. They didn't dare look over their shoulders for they were afraid of what they might see. Kate ran as fast as she could next to Sawyer until they dove in-between a tree where there were thick branches sticking out all around them to protect themselves from being eaten alive. They both backed into the middle of the tree, looking around them as the cries of the monster were heard.  
"Where is it?" Sawyer muttered.  
"It sounds like it's moving away..." Kate said. "Sayid...no..."

**FLASH-FORWARD**

Sawyer sat in a dark, gloomy bar where there seemed to be a hazy mist in the air. People were in the background playing poker and drinking beers merrily while Sawyer sat at the counter with a mug in his hands. His narrowed eyes were fixed upon the table-top, deep in thought about something.  
Someone took a seat next to him and ordered a beer from the barman. He sounded British from his voice but he had a tone of depression in it as well. Sawyer briefly looked at him. It was a man who looked to be around thirty. He had short hair that was sticking out in odd angles and he looked like a mess. His glasses were askew as well.  
Sawyer wasn't in the mood to talk, especially to a disheveled stranger but somehow the man next to him caught his eye and smiled weakly.  
"Hey, mate." He said, a little groggily.  
"Hey, yourself..." Sawyer muttered darkly.  
"Bet you think I'm a real mess." The man said with a weak little smile.  
"What?"  
"I saw you staring at me just now..." The man said as the barman slid a beer across the table. He grabbed it and drank as if the beer inside was full of life itself. Sawyer looked at him again with disgust before the man slammed the bottle down on the counter and shook his head.  
"You're right though..." He went on. "I am a real mess."  
Sawyer rolled his eyes, looking away to pretend like he wasn't listening.  
"Though assuming from the state you're in-" The man hiccupped. "I'd have to say you're not too well either, eh?"  
"Just been having a rough month." Sawyer muttered.  
"Ah, I know how that feels." The man nodded wisely, drinking some more of his beer. "Course, I've been having a rough couple of years more like."  
"Really, now." Sawyer muttered, not really caring.  
"Yeah, my wife took my daughter, Megan, away from me when I started to get into alcohol..." The man said sadly. "And now alcohol's the only thing I got left..."  
"Sucks for you." Sawyer sighed.  
"What's your name, friend?" The man asked.  
"Just call me Sawyer..." Sawyer muttered.  
"Ah, alright Sawyer." The man said. "Name's Liam."  
"Coodos." Sawyer sighed again, leaning back. He didn't want to become "mates" with this guy and he certainly didn't want to hear about this man's life problems. He had problems of his own he needed to worry about.  
"Where you off to?" Liam asked.  
But Sawyer didn't respond. He stood up and left the bar to leave Liam alone to drink himself unconscious...

**END OF FLASH-FORWARD**

Sayid sprinted through the jungle, the monster chasing after him through the trees and crying out its horrifying cry. Sayid burst from out of the jungle and arrived at a cliff hanging over into another part of the jungle bellow that led off into some mountains. He skidded to a halt and looked down, watching a rock tumble down the side of the cliff. He was trapped!  
Turning around, Sayid watched as the trees bent apart before him and a humongous pillar of black smoke emerged, bellowing down at him with a low grumbling sound coming from the base of the beast. Sayid watched it and it watched him, both unmoving as if daring the other to try something. And then, quite suddenly, the cloud of black smoke looked away, as if distracted by something. In a flash, it shifted back into the jungle and out of sight without another sound...  
Sayid remained rooted to the spot, breathing heavily. Something, somewhere, had just saved his life. He looked out into the jungle in confusion, unsure of what to do from there. He felt the numbness in his legs go away at last and he ran into the jungle to find Kate and Sawyer...

Sawyer and Kate cautiously stepped out from between the branches of the tree and looked around frightfully. The sounds of the monster had died down and all they could hear now was the faint chirping of some nearby birds.  
"Did you see it?" Kate asked.  
"No, never have." Sawyer frowned. "And I hope I never have to."  
"I've seen it before..." Kate muttered. "When me and Juliet were in the jungle, it chased us and..." She paused as Sawyer gave her an inquisitive look.  
"And what?" He asked.  
"I'm not sure..." Kate said. "It felt like it was taking pictures of us or something."  
Sawyer blinked. "Well ain't that great." He said. "At least our resident monster knows how to work a camera."  
She rolled her eyes and smiled as she walked forward ahead of him. "We need to find Sayid and pick up Locke's trail again."  
"I'm going back..." Sawyer muttered.  
"What?" Kate asked, looking at him in shock.  
"I'm not going to risk my life just so we can get Locke back, sorry." Sawyer spat. "He wants to stay, I say let him stay. But I'm getting off this rock."  
"James!" Kate said loudly as he turned to walk away. "If you really believed that then why did you come along?"  
"Because..." Sawyer muttered.  
"Because why?" Kate repeated, stepping up to him with a frown on her face.  
"Because I...Because I wanted to fix things." Sawyer said finally. "Between us."  
Kate stared at him with her mouth open, unsure of what to say. Sawyer shifted uncomfortably where he stood and said "I wanted to just...be with you again."  
"You wouldn't have to be with me again if you'd just tell me what is wrong..." Kate said, looking down.  
"I want to tell you, Kate but..." Sawyer sighed. "I can't."  
"Why not?" Kate asked, staring at him with tears burning in her eyes.  
"I just can't." Sawyer said again. "If you knew what I was going through right now--"  
"I want to know!" Kate shouted. "But if you can't tell me then how am I ever supposed to be with you?"  
Sawyer shook his head with a frown before turning and walking away. "Seeyah, Freckles..." He muttered, heading back up into the jungle and out of sight, leaving Kate standing by herself watching him go with a mixture of anger and disappointment...

**FLASH-FORWARD**

Kate got out of her car, it was late at night and the moon was shining overhead. She locked the door behind her and stepped up to her front door of her house. She took out her keys and fumbled with them until she found the right one and opened the door. When she went inside, she found Sawyer sitting at the dining room table with a bottle of vodka in his hands. He looked up when she entered and they both stared at each other for a moment.  
"Hey." She said.  
"Hey..." Sawyer muttered, groggily lifting his head up and leaning back in his chair. "Where were you?"  
"Out." Kate said simply, shrugging her jacket off.  
"I could figure that much out." Sawyer frowned. "Out where?"  
"Since when do you care where I go...?" Kate asked coldly.  
Sawyer blinked and stood up. "Well, Kate..." He said with euphemism on her name. "Lately you've been coming and going without even telling me where."  
"I have to work night-shift sometimes, you know that." Kate said, walking past him and into the kitchen.  
He watched her in silence for a little while before saying with a heavy sigh "Who have you been seeing?"  
Kate paused by the sink, looking up with wide eyes and staring at him with an outraged expression. "Excuse me?"  
"There have been messages on our phone from a guy." Sawyer said darkly.  
Kate glared at him. "What does it matter?"  
"It matters." Sawyer snarled.  
"Who are they from?" Kate asked.  
"I don't know." Sawyer said, standing up. "I was hoping you'd know that."  
"I haven't been seeing anyone!" Kate said, raising her voice defiantly.  
"Then where were you tonight?" Sawyer asked, stepping up and looking down at her in anger. "Where the hell were you, Kate!?"  
Tears formed in Kate's eyes as he yelled at her. "I can't tell you..."  
"Why not!?" Sawyer yelled.  
"Because if I told you you'd..." Kate paused as he looked at her incredulously. She opened her mouth to speak again but was interrupted by a loud sound coming from the next room. It sounded like crying.  
They both rushed across the room and into the hallway, bursting through a door and into a dark, small room with blue walls and a bunch of plastic toys lying about. In the center of the room there was a cradle and in the cradle was a baby bawling his eyes out.  
"Shhh! It's alright." Kate said, picking up the baby and holding him against her shoulder to calm him down. "Mommy's here, it's okay..."  
Sawyer stood in the doorway watching them with a disheartened expression. He looked down and left the room to leave her alone with their son...

**END OF FLASH-FORWARD**

Jack looked up as Sawyer came walking out of the jungle alone toward the group. "I see I haven't missed the field trip." He said with a smirk as he joined the group.  
"Where's Kate?" Jack asked.  
"I left her with Sayid." Sawyer sighed.  
"Why did you come back?" Juliet asked him curiously.  
"I didn't feel like risking my neck anymore." Sawyer lied. "Besides...you guys got the beers."

As the morning sun rose over the island, the group of survivors gathered together on the other side of the village and began their journey downhill toward the north side of the island where they would have to climb around the side of a mountain to get to the beach. Jack and Juliet were in the lead while Hurley, Jin, and Bernard helped carry the luggage on the stretcher they made out of bamboo earlier on. Sawyer was in the back of the group holding a dharma beer in his hands and looking back into the jungle. He closed his eyes and took a swig of his drink and when he opened his eyes, he coughed his drink down the front of his chest because of what he saw next.  
Kate was walking out of the jungle alone toward them. She saw them and began running yelling "Hey!!"  
Jack stopped and turned around. "Kate..." he muttered, a relieved smile on his face. Juliet noticed his smile and frowned, watching Kate run toward them.  
She came to an abrupt halt in front of them and said, with a breathless voice "Room for one more?"  
"Yeah." Jack said. "Where's Sayid?"  
"He went off alone." Kate told him.  
"Why'd you come back?" Sawyer asked her with a frown.  
"Because you were right..." Kate said. "Locke can do his own thing..."  
Sawyer nodded but still looked disappointed. This was obviously not the answer he wanted to hear.  
And so the group headed off into the jungle, past the sonar fence. Where, unknown to them, black smoke was beginning to rise just over the horizon of the ocean...

**LOST**


	4. Love of an Other

**4x04: Love of an Other (Sayid Centric)**

With a rifle at his side, the ex-Iraqi soldier traipsed through the jungle on his own, keeping his wits about him as he went. The sun was hot against his skin but the freshness of the trees cooled him down. As he reached a stream, he bent over and washed his hands and face in it, gasping with relief and squatting down.  
_There he is! He's watching_  
Sayid jerked his head up. He could have sworn that he had heard someone whisper something in the distance just out of sight. He stood up, pulling his rifle out and aiming it in front of him cautiously. "I heard you." he said loudly. "Come out."  
Nothing happened except for a few birds flew overhead and the trees swayed in the wind over the moving stream beneath him. Sayid slowly lowered his gun with a frown on his face as he picked up his pack and carried on through the jungle.

**FLASHBACK**

Sayid sat on a bench in an airport looking at a photograph in his hands. His beard was beginning to grow and his hair was down in front of his face. He looked like a mess and was still very young.  
There was a woman in the photograph with a black hood over her head, staring back at him with a smile. Sayid returned the smile sadly, muttering the words "Nadia..." under his breath.  
He folded the picture in remorse before standing up. He looked down to pick up his bags when suddenly he bumped into a man and caused him to drop his suit case.  
"Sorry!" Sayid apologized quickly, helping the man with his luggage.  
He was a big, white-haired man with a portly yet friendly appearance. "Thanks, stranger." The man said, taking his bags with a smile. "What's your name?"  
"Uh, Sayid." Sayid said.  
"Sayid." The man nodded. "Name's Alan Seward."  
"Sorry, Alan." Sayid said to him. "I'm just...a little dazed at the moment."  
"Well that can be fixed." The man named Alan smirked. He was looking at Sayid as if he'd found someone he was looking for at last. "How would you like to go for a couple of beers later?"  
"I'm not much of an alcoholic." Sayid admitted, confused by this man's strangeness and picking up on it at once. It was clear that he wanted something of him and he was curious to find out what.  
"Well, if you decide to come I'll be at the nearest pub tonight." Alan said. "See you there, friend."  
And with that, the large man walked off with his suitcase and luggage leaving Sayid standing by the bench with a plane taking off on the runway behind him.

**END FLASHBACK**

Jack led his group down through the jungle, heading into the most northern part of the island with his people right behind him. Juliet and Kate were on either side looking up at the mountain ahead apprehensively.  
"I've never been here before." Juliet said. "This part of the island I know very little about."  
"Well hopefully there's not a whole lot to learn about." Jack said. "Last thing we need right now are distractions."  
"How are we getting over this thing, Jack?" Juliet asked him.  
"It'll be quicker to find a low part of the mountain and climb over it rather than going around." Jack said and Kate nodded in agreement.  
"But we don't know what's in that mountain." Juliet said with a frown. "And I doubt your people feel like hiking uphill anymore than they already have to. Why don't we--?"  
"You're not the one leading us off his island, are you?" Kate interrupted her with a glare.  
Juliet returned it with a frown and a tilt of her head. "I'm just saying it'd be easier for the group as a whole to go around the mountain instead of--"  
"These aren't even your people." Kate snapped at her. "What gives you the right to--"  
"Kate." Jack told her firmly and she stopped.  
The two women glared at each other for a moment and Jack decided to break the tension. "Look, we'll go over the mountain. We need to be by that beach by nightfall which means we only have about six hours left." He looked at Juliet. "And that's final."  
"Ok." Juliet said simply, watching him and Kate continue off through the jungle with the rest of them. She watched them go for a moment before following them with a disheartened expression on her face.

**LOST**

The radio phone in Jack's pocket abruptly screeched to life and the voice of Zack came in saying "Hello? Hello? Jack? Is anyone there?"  
"Hello, it's me-Jack." Jack said, answering the phone and stopping the group. They all looked at him, waiting to see what was going on.  
"We're having engine problems." Zack said. "We won't be at the island until sometime tomorrow, I'm afraid."  
"Engine problems?" Jack's face fell as he said this and muttering started amongst the group. "Well, we're within a days walk to the beach so we'll just camp out I guess..." He looked at the rest of the group sadly.  
"I'm sorry; I'll radio you in tomorrow morning." Zack said before the phone went dead.  
There were groans from the rest of the group as they all muttered amongst themselves about this misfortunate occurrence.  
"Hey-Hey!" Jack yelled, calming them down. "Look, we'll camp out here, on the mountain, alright? It'll give us time to conserve out energy for tomorrow's hike down the mountain. It'll be ok."  
They all frowned but new this was true and slowly the group spread apart to start setting up a small camp. Jack turned to go and get some firewood, Kate going with him while Juliet watched them both with a frown on her face.

Sayid stepped out of the jungle and into a massive clearing in the center of the island. He stopped, staring ahead of him with a surprised, wide-eyed look at what lay before him.  
On the ground in the middle of the grassy clearing was a huge pile of blue-top sealed tubes just thrown about in a mess. He approached the pile and knelt down to pick up one of them. There was a journal inside of it. He uncorked the tube and took out the journal, flipping through it curiously and reading random lines that said seemingly unimportant things like "0400: S.R. moves ping-pong table again. 0415: Takes a shower."  
"I see you found the pearl station books."  
Sayid dropped the journal and wheeled around, raising the rifle up and pointing it at a man standing a few yards behind him with his arms folded behind his back and a calm smile on his face. He had short black hair and his eyes were keen and showed signs of some sort of wisdom behind them.  
"Who are you?" Sayid asked darkly.  
"My name is Richard Alpert." The man said. "And I'm one of the people you have come to call us as ''The other"." He said with a little chuckle and took a step toward him.  
"I will not hesitate to shoot!" Sayid warned him.  
"I know." Richard said. "But I got a feeling you'll want to hear what I've got to tell you."  
"What do you mean?" Sayid asked, his eyes narrowing.  
"I was just out looking for you." Richard said matter-of-factly. "It's a good thing you were here. I didn't want to have to kidnap you from your people."  
"Are you alone?" Sayid asked suspiciously, eyeing the surroundings.  
"Yes." Richard said. "But why bother asking, you won't believe me anyways, right?"  
"Why were you looking for me?" Sayid asked, approaching him with his gun still raised, aiming at his head.  
"Because..." Richard sighed. "There's someone we want to take you to."

**FLASHBACK**

Sayid sat down at the counter of the local bar after finding Alan already sitting there half-way through a bottle of beer himself.  
"Ah, you came." Alan said merrily.  
"Yes." Sayid said, shaking his hand.  
"So what is it that you were doing?" Alan asked, drinking his beer.  
"Excuse me?" Sayid raised his eyebrow.  
"You were looking at a picture when I saw you." Alan said. "And you were in an airport...Do that mean you were looking for something, or someone?"  
"You're very observant." Sayid said, impressed.  
"That's my job." Alan smirked.  
"What is your job exactly?" Sayid asked.  
"I'm a conman." Alan said, looking at him with a lop-sided smile.  
Sayid blinked. "A conman?" He repeated.  
"Yup." Alan said, taking another drink.  
"So you're saying..." Sayid started. "That your name might not even be Alan?"  
"You're pretty smart yourself, friend." The conman said.  
"Don't suppose there's a point in asking your real name, is there?"  
"Not really." He said with a sigh. "You never answered my question anyways."  
Sayid paused, thinking for a moment. "I'm looking for someone."  
"Figured." Alan muttered.  
"Her name is Nadia." Sayid sighed, taking the photo out from his pocket. Alan froze for a second, staring at him.  
"Can I see it?" He asked.  
"Sure." Sayid handed it over to him. Alan looked at her for a second or two, his eyes traveling back and forth thinking fast.  
"What?" Sayid asked.  
"I can help you find her." Alan said, handing it back to him. "But only if you do something for me." 

**END FLASHBACK**

Sayid followed Richard through the jungle, aiming his rifle at the mysterious man's back in case he tried to pull anything sneaky.  
"Where is it you're taking me?" Sayid asked.  
"You'll find out soon enough." Richard reassured him.  
"Why can't you tell me now?"  
"Because I want you to wonder what it is." Richard said. "Besides, if I tell you you'll just kill me and go there yourself."  
Sayid frowned, for that was exactly what he was thinking.  
"I know you, Sayid Jarrah." Richard continued on casually with a smirk.  
"You know nothing about me." Sayid said coldly.  
"You people always say that." Richard sighed. "But I know more than you think. I know how you were a torturer in Iraq that fought in the Gulf War. I know about the woman you rescued by shooting yourself in the leg..."  
Sayid's eyes widened when he said this, but Richard continued anyway.  
"--I know about Basra, the man you tortured and killed for a conman just so you could find that woman again." Richard stopped and turned around to look at him. Sayid's face had fallen into rage. "-And I know what happened when you did find her."  
Sayid's grip on his weapon clenched tightly against the handle, wanting desperately to kill him but knowing it would be best not to...yet. "Shut up and keep moving." He spat coldly.  
Richard's smile widened, only slightly, as he turned and continued to lead Sayid through the forest.

The sun was beginning to set over the horizon as the group on the mountain finished setting up camp. Hurley was playing with Vincent the dog in a clearing while Claire sat by a fire holding Aaron with a sad expression on her face. Sun and Jin were cuddling by a fire as well along with Bernard and Rose, who were arguing like a married couple over how to properly skin a fish.  
Jack threw a bundle of fire wood into a pit of his own and lit it carefully, watching the flames slowly come to life. He took a seat in the grass and sighed, leaning his head back against the bark of the tree behind him.  
"Hey." Kate greeted, taking a seat next to him.  
"Oh, hey." Jack smiled.  
"So what do you think about our last camp-out?" Kate asked.  
"It'd be better if we had smores." Jack smirked making Kate chuckle under her breath.  
"I'm glad to see you're in a better mood now." She told him.  
"Well with Ben and Locke gone I don't really have to worry about a whole lot, do I?" Jack said with a frown. "But I suppose I should worry about Sayid, huh?"  
"Sayid's been off in the jungle by himself before." Kate said.  
"And he came back with a wounded leg." Jack added.  
Kate smiled grimly. "I suppose you're right about that."  
Juliet stood in the shadows watching them with a blank expression and her arms folded. She didn't like seeing them together. She knew kissing Jack had made Kate jealous...was this her way of getting back at her? By turning Jack against her?  
"Hey..." Sawyer muttered, approaching her.  
"What, no sarcastic nick-names?" Juliet asked without looking at him.  
"I'm fresh-out." Sawyer smirked. "What you doing in the dark?"  
"Why do you care?" Juliet asked with a frown.  
"What, you give me the 411 whenever I'm in a mood but I'm not allowed to ask a simple question?" Sawyer asked, acting affronted.  
"I'm not in a mood." Juliet said.  
"Bull-kicky." Sawyer scoffed. "You're standing in the dark, glaring at the Doc and Freckles over there."  
"Maybe I'm just spacing." Juliet said, looking at him with a smile of her own.  
Sawyer chuckled and stepped out into the fire-light. "You can act calm and ok as much as you want. But I can always tell where there's a lady with her panties in a bunch."  
"Well I'm glad you have some sort of talent." Juliet muttered.  
Sawyer shook his head and walked off without another word. Juliet remained where she was, staring back at Jack and Kate as they laughed about something together. Her face fell slightly...

Richard emerged out of the jungle and onto a rocky shore by the ocean where the waves came crashing in with the beach. Sayid was right behind him, looking around in confusion. "Where are we?" He asked.  
"On the western side of the island." Richard said. "Follow me..."  
They continued along the side of the peninsula until, up ahead, Sayid saw a cave in the side of a boulder formation.  
"What I have to show you is in there." Richard said, pointing at the cave.  
"Alright." Sayid said, stepping forward. "Now tell me why I shouldn't kill you now."  
"Because you'll need me after you come out of there." Richard said with a smirk.   
Sayid frowned and muttered "Stay here." Before moving down the beach-line toward the caves. When he reached the mouth of it he peered inside and stared into nothing but darkness. All he could hear were the crashing of the waves and the sound of water dripping from the roof of the cavern in front of him.  
He entered inside, carefully monitoring every step he took and looking over his shoulder every ten seconds to make sure he wasn't entering a trap of some sort. As he moved further into the cave, the walls began to get thinner and everything got a lot darker. He continued until he noticed a flame up ahead. He walked toward it cautiously and saw that it was a torch sitting against the wall. He grabbed it and held it up in front of him, yelling out in shock at what he found.  
Lying on the cavern floor before him was a woman dressed in ragged clothes. There was blood leaking from cuts all over her body and there was a bad wound in her leg. Sayid bent over and rolled the unconscious woman over and felt a cold, and yet numb feeling enter his body.  
It was Nadia.

**FLASHBACK**

Sayid stepped out of his truck, looking slightly shaken, as he closed the door behind him and walked up to a gate with a brief-case in his hand. The man at the gate let him through, Sayid making sure to hide his hands in his pockets as he walked down the drive-way with a quickened pace until he reached the front door. He took out one hand from his pocket and knocked a few times. His knuckles were stained crimson with blood that glistened under the sun above.  
The door opened and Alan Seward the conman stood inside, facing him with a coat half-way on. "Did you get it?"  
"Yes, Alan." Sayid said, handing him the brief case. "I got your money."  
"Good." Alan grinned widely. "What are the chances that'd I'd find a torturer in an airport. Guess you could say I have good luck, eh?"  
Sayid frowned, not at all impressed with this man's "Luck".  
"I found her." Alan said, stepping outside and walking down the drive-way, past the gate and into Sayid's truck.  
"Where?" Sayid asked, wasting no time.  
"Wasn't too difficult." Alan shrugged. "It's a good thing I know a lot of people, would've been a bit harder--"  
"Where is she?" Sayid interrupted him.  
Alan smirked again. "I'll show you."

Sayid drove the truck down a suburban road in a very neighborhoodly place. There were people outside with their children laughing and playing. Sayid ignored them, never knowing such a simple life such as theirs, as he continued down the road Alan directed him in.  
"Right here." he said and Sayid came to an abrupt stop in front of a house on their right. They both looked out the window at the homely house next to them. There was a car in the drive-way which meant there was somebody home.  
"There you go, friend." Alan smiled. "I'll wait in the truck for your little meeting with your girlfriend to end. You can drive me home and we'll part ways there."  
"First tell me why..." Sayid said, turning the keys in the ignition off.  
"Why what?" Alan asked, pausing with a suspicious raised eyebrow.  
"Why you made me torture that man, Basra, so that you could gather money for a retirement con..." Sayid said. "Why couldn't you have just conned him out of the money yourself?"  
"Because I had already tried." Alan sighed. "First time I was ever caught in a con. I was lucky I got out before he could do anything..."  
"The man had two body-guards." Sayid said. "They'll be after you."  
"That's a risk I'm willing to take." Alan smirked. "Who knows, maybe I'll find someone to con me out of getting into trouble with them too."  
Sayid frowned and stepped out of the truck, facing the house before him.  
"Good luck, Sayid." Alan said out the window.  
Sayid nodded and walked up the pathway, leaving Alan by himself in the truck.  
As he approached the front door, he paused with his hand raised to knock. This was it. After years of being apart and hoping to find her again, he was there. He knocked.  
The door opened after ten seconds of waiting. And there she was, standing with a jacket and jeans on and looking like an average American citizen who'd come from Iraq. They both stopped, staring at each other with wide eyes.  
"S-Sayid." She stuttered in disbelief.  
Sayid opened his mouth, unable to find the words to express himself. There she was, even more beautiful then the time he'd seen her last in the prison cells of Iraq.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Sayid ran out of the cavern with Nadia in his arms. Blood was already beginning to flow from the wounds in her body, they were fresh. She must've been injured within the amount of time of where he left his camp to where he met with Richard only a couple hours previous.  
And there was Richard Alpert, standing on the rocky shore looking at them with a blank expression.  
"What did you do to her!?" Sayid demanded in rage, approaching him.  
"Nothing." Richard said simply.  
"LIAR!!!" Sayid shouted, getting even closer.  
"She was attacked by a polar bear, only an hour after I met you in the jungle. We put her in the cave so that--"  
"WHY DIDN'T YOU BRING HER TO ME!!??" Sayid shouted again, tears in his eyes.  
"Because if you saw me carrying her you would've attacked me." Richard said. "This isn't how you were supposed to find her, though."  
"What do you mean?" Sayid asked, crouching down with her by the ocean and holding her head, looking at her face with disbelief. How could she be here? How long had she been on this island?  
"When we took her, we kept her with the rest of us so that when the time was right we could use her." Richard explained, joining his side.  
"Time was right for what?" Sayid asked darkly.  
"To convince you to join with us."  
Sayid glared at Richard over his shoulder. "HOW THE HELL WOULD YOU EXPECT ME TO JOIN YOU AFTER THIS!!??"  
"She escaped from us once she found out you were here too." Richard continued, ignoring his signs of anger. "And she's been on her own for two days. I just found her, not that long ago...the wounds from the polar bear are pretty severe.  
"You should have brought her to me." Sayid spat. "I could have taken her to Jack, she would be okay right now if it wasn't for you!!"  
"Not even Jack can help her." Richard sighed sadly. "Her wounds are fatal, Sayid. Bringing her to your people would only create problems for everyone else."  
Sayid blinked back tears, looking back down at Nadia.  
"The reason I brought you here, Sayid." Richard said. "Was so that you can say goodbye."

"You awake?"  
Jack looked up to find Juliet standing over him by the fireside with a smile on her face. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, noticing that Kate was gone.  
"I am now." Jack said with a small grin.  
"You mind if I sit?"  
"Sure." Jack nodded, looking into the fire.  
Juliet took a seat on the opposite side of Jack to where Kate had sat. She looked into the fire as well, holding a bottle of water in her hands. "So what do you think?" She asked.  
"Think about what?" Jack muttered.  
"Kate." Juliet said bluntly.  
"Kate?" Jack repeated, confused. "What do you mean?"  
"It's obvious..." Juliet sighed. "The way you two act..."  
Jack frowned, suddenly getting what she was saying. "And why do you care?" He asked calmly, not sounding rude at all.  
"Well it just seems odd that you could let her break your heart and then just accept her back like that." Juliet said, continuing her amazingly blunt conversation.  
Jack's frown deepened as he stared into the fire. "She never broke my heart."  
Juliet looked at him, her eyebrows raised in surprise. "What?"  
"She never broke my heart." Jack said again with a little nod to himself.  
Juliet paused. "Then why did you let them escape a few weeks ago when you were doing the surgery?"  
Jack smiled a little. "Because I wanted what was best for her..."  
Juliet looked back into the fire, not liking what she was hearing. Unknown to both of them, someone was standing a few feet away behind a tree listening...

Sayid slipped his hands under Nadia's bleeding back and lifted her up once again, walking toward the jungle without a second glance back at Richard. Richard, however, followed with a frown.  
"What are you doing?" He asked.  
"I'm taking her back to my people." Sayid muttered coldly.  
"You can't do that." Richard said, suddenly quickening his pace a little.  
"I can do whatever I please." Sayid said.  
"She will die before you can make it back there." Richard said. "Don't waist your time with a fool's errand."  
"Don't tell me what I can't do!" Sayid said loudly, still not looking at him.  
"There's no point, Sayid!" Richard said desperately. "And when you realize that I'm going to be there!"   
Sayid continued off into the darkness of the jungle, refusing to give up hope on Nadia just yet.

**FLASHBACK**

Sayid sat in Nadia's living room, sitting alone in a comfortable chair by a fire-place. The house was very nice and roomy. There were ornaments on top of the fireplace and a television in the corner by a purple sofa. Nadia entered carrying a glass of tea in her hands. She handed it to him and he thanked her gratefully, taking a small sip and setting it down on the coffee table in front of him.  
Nadia sat down on the sofa and faced him, looking apprehensive. "Sayid...I-I can't believe you're here in my living room."  
"I can hardly believe it either." Sayid smiled. "It's a nice place."  
"Thank you." Nadia looked down, folding her hands across her lap.  
"How have you been?" Sayid asked after a moment of silence.  
"Fine." Nadia answered, not looking at him right away. "I've got a job as a saleswoman for television commercials."  
"Ah, the American dream?" Sayid teased her and she smiled.  
"Well, the American dream has been disappointing." Nadia muttered. "It's been hard."  
"Yeah..." Sayid agreed quietly.  
"When did you get here?" Nadia asked curiously.  
"Last week." Sayid said. "I met a man and he helped me find you."  
"You...You came here to find me?" Nadia asked, a little shocked.  
"Why else would I come here?" Sayid smiled and she did as well.  
"Why?" Nadia asked, her smile faltering abruptly.  
"Why what?" Sayid asked.  
"Why did you come here to find me?"  
Sayid stared at her incredulously. "Because I...I needed to see you."  
Nadia paused, looking at him with a guilty expression. "How's your leg?" She asked.  
"It healed." Sayid said, not wanting to discuss his leg. "Look, Nadia..."  
He moved from the seat and leaned forward toward her. She looked at him, unsure of what to do or say as he came closer. "Ever since I let you go...I've been regretting it ever since and I've never been able to stop thinking of you..."  
"Sayid..." Nadia muttered, looking down.  
"You've been in my head every time I go to sleep at night and every time I wake in the morning." Sayid went on. "I needed to see you again. And I'm here now, and I'm here to stay..." He paused and reached out tenderly with his hand to grab hers. "I'm here to stay because...I want to be with you. And I never want to have to let you go again."  
A tear slid down Nadia's cheek as she closed her eyes and slowly took her hand out from his. Sayid's face fell, knowing already what this meant but refusing to believe it could be true.  
"Sayid, I..." Nadia sniffed. "You were gone for so long I didn't think I'd see you again...and when the war ended I hoped but you never..." She sniffed again, wiping the tears away. Sayid sat there, staring at her in horror.  
"I found someone else." Nadia said at last.  
And there it was. The words that caused nightmares in Sayid's sleep. The words any man in love feared to hear. Sayid's mouth hung open as he remained frozen in place, staring at her completely heart-broken.  
"No..." He muttered.  
"I'm so sorry, Sayid." Nadia said as he stood up and she grabbed his sleeve.  
He wretched his arm out of her reach and backed away, tears streaming down the sides of his face.  
"This can't be--You can't!" Sayid shouted, running his hands through his hair.  
"Sayid-I--" Nadia sobbed.  
Sayid was utterly unable to say anything that could expression all of the emotions running through his head. After everything he'd done, she'd found someone else to love instead.  
He slammed the front door behind him, walking down the driveway toward where the truck was still parked with Alan Seward waiting in the passenger's seat with a pair of sunglasses on looking at the rear-view mirror. He looked up as Sayid approached as the ex-Iraqi solder stepped inside of the vehicle and grabbed the steering wheel.  
"What happened?" Alan asked curiously, a dumbfounded look on his face.  
"Let's go." Sayid muttered darkly, starting up the ignition and driving off down the road, leaving Nadia in the doorway crying her heart out...

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Sayid ran as fast as he could through the dark jungle carrying Nadia in his arms. It was hard. There was blood everywhere and there was nothing he knew of that could save her. He needed to get back to camp as fast as he could or else she was going to...  
No, Sayid thought, he refused to believe that she could go like this. He was going to save her. Of course he was going to save her.  
Nadia gasped suddenly, spitting from her mouth onto his chest. "Nadia!" Sayid cried desperately, stopping and setting her down, leaning her head up against him as she breathed to life and opened her eyes.  
It took a moment before she stared at him and muttered "Sayid..." In disbelief.  
"Oh, Nadia." Sayid cried. "You're going to be alright."  
"Sayid...Is it really you...?" Nadia asked quietly.  
Sayid wanted nothing more than to talk with her, find out exactly how the others had captured her and brought her here but if he did so she would die and he would have been wasting time.  
"Stay quiet, I'm taking you somewhere safe." Sayid told her quickly, beginning to pick her up.  
She screamed in pain as he did so and Sayid realized he had accidentally pressed into the wound on her back. "It hurts!!" She moaned in agony.  
"I'm sorry-I'm sorry." Sayid said, tears in his eyes as he set her back down again. "Nadia, I need to carry you back."  
She sighed and shook her head, breathing heavily and looking up at him weakly. "It's too late for me now, Sayid..."  
Sayid shook his head, refusing to believe this. "I can take you there, you can be alright!"  
"No...You can't..." Nadia muttered, smiling somehow despite the pain and the knowledge that she was going to die.  
"But..." Sayid muttered. He'd already lost someone on this island, and there was no way he was going to lose Nadia as well. "Nadia, I can save you!"  
Nadia continued to smile. "You already saved me..."

**FLASHBACK**

Sayid sat in his truck with a hat on and a pair of shades over his eyes, staring down the road with a disgruntled expression on his face. He was alone, staring at a house a few yards down. It was Nadia's house.  
He watched in silence for a few minutes, waiting for something. And then it happened. Nadia opened the front door and locked it behind her before getting into her car and driving off. Sayid started the truck up and followed her down the road.  
As he stalked her through the city, he wasn't paying attention to where exactly they were driving. He was thinking about if, maybe this time, he'd find out who the man was that she was now in love with. Or if he could at least find out where the man lived...  
And then she stopped in front of a pair of large gates and walked up to them. She spoke with the security guard there and he let her through. Sayid parked right behind Nadia's car, watching her go up the driveway and toward the front doors. This place looked familiar somehow...  
The door opened and Sayid saw the face of a man he'd not been expecting to see ever again. Alan Seward was standing in the entrance, smiling at her as they spoke briefly. Sayid's face fell in realization and disbelief. Alan? The man who had helped him find Nadia in the first place?  
After talking, Nadia exited with a briefcase before getting back into her car and driving off. Sayid, however, remained parked. He climbed out of the truck and slammed the door behind him. Running up to the gate, he sneaked through using the stealth he'd learned from being a soldier and walked past the security guard toward the front door. He stood there, facing it for a moment before knocking rapidly and a few moments later, Alan answered saying "Did you forget something or did you--"  
WHAM!!! Sayid slammed his fist into the side of the man's face, knocking him backwards onto his bottom on the fancy rug floor.  
"What the--Sayid?" Alan sputtered, rubbing his cheek.  
"You lied to me." Sayid said darkly. "You conned me into getting money so you could give it to her!?"  
"I plan on getting that money back." Alan said.  
"What?" Sayid spat.  
"I'm conning her too!" Alan said, getting up. "Just like how I conned you and that Basra guy."  
Sayid paused. "You told me you failed to con him."  
Alan smirked and chuckled. "Did I now?"  
Sayid's fists clenched, wanting to punch him again. "You made me torture another man just so you could get a bunch of money saved up? You tricked me into finding the woman I loved, the same woman you conned into loving you!!"  
"She doesn't love me." Alan said, shaking his head. "You got the wrong idea."  
"Lies!!" Sayid yelled.  
"I conned her, yes, but not into loving me." Alan said. "Why, what did she tell you?"  
Sayid's face fell in realization. Nadia had lied to him. There was no other man that she loved. She had told him that because she didn't want to get involved him with again...but why?  
"What did you con her into then?" Sayid demanded.  
"A business trip thing." Alan muttered. "I give her money to go on a business trip somewhere in Sydney to get rich. I made her think I was some rich developer, this was a month ago, before I even met you."  
Sayid frowned. "I'm going to tell her."  
"No you're not, Sayid." Alan chuckled. "You wanna know why? Because you will never be able to talk to her again. You're mad at her because she lied to you and there is a little part inside of you that wants to take revenge on her for what she did to you. You're going to let her take that flight and I am going to steal her money."  
Sayid remained rooted to the spot, staring at him as he tried to find a way of retaliating. How could this be happening? How could Nadia have done this to him?  
"Get out of my house..." Alan muttered. "Before I tell the guards what you're doing here..."

**END FLASHBACK**

Sayid sat in the ground holding Nadia in his arms as she sat there staring at him with a smile. He opened his mouth slowly, a single tear going down his cheek as he said "Why...?"  
"Why what...?" Nadia asked quietly.  
"Why did you lie to me...?"  
Nadia blinked, realizing what she meant. "Figured you'd find out somehow..." She muttered.  
"Tell me why you did it." Sayid said desperately.  
"Because..." Nadia paused. "Deep down, I knew just like you did, that know matter how much we may have loved each other, we never would have made it work...I wasn't ready for a commitment with you because I was afraid of hurting you."  
Sayid sighed. "Well you were wrong, because your lie hurt me more than anything else you could have possibly done..."  
Nadia slowly raised her hand and touched Sayid's face, blinking back tears. "I'm sorry...Sayid...I never should have..." She paused. "Sayid..."  
Sayid leaned in closer, knowing that this was it. "Yes?"  
"I...love..." Nadia was unable to say the last word as her eyes glazed a bit and her hand fell limply into his own.

And there Sayid remained, holding onto the woman he had loved all his life in his arms. He sobbed, wishing with every fiber in his body he could've somehow saved her. Wishing more than anything to go back and stop this from happening somehow.  
"I told you."  
Sayid looked up, forgetting about Richard's promise of turning up. He didn't turn around for he never wanted to see that man again. And yet Richard remained a few feet behind him watching with a saddened expression on his own face.  
"I'm truly sorry, Sayid." Richard apologized, and he sounded honest. "I wish this didn't have to happen. I wish there was another way we could've done this but..."  
"Don't." Sayid muttered coldly. "Don't say...Don't say anything..."  
Richard closed his mouth, giving him an understanding look as he slowly stood up, releasing Nadia from his grip at last. "This is the second woman I've loved that has died in my arms on this island." Sayid said.  
"I know." Richard sighed.  
"And both of them died..." Sayid looked up and glared at Richard. "Because of your people...Because of you."  
Richard stared at him as Sayid furiously stared back. "I told you, Sayid I'm--"  
"Take me to your people." Sayid said suddenly.  
"What?" Richard said, surprised.  
"I'm not going back." Sayid said. "You took everything from me. So I want you to take me to your people so I can see exactly what it is you people are."

**LOST **

**4x05: Hope + Doubt (Jack Centric)**  
**When Jack is seperated by a land-slide with another one of the castways, the two get closer than ever before. Meanwhile, Locke explores the mysteries of "The Temple".**


	5. Hope and Doubt

**4x05: Hope + Doubt (Jack Centric)**

The ocean shores were so beautiful. The sand beneath his feet felt soothing, ever so soothing. Like a massage for each of his toes. The sun was going down in the horizon casting an orange glow across the rippling waves of the ocean before him. The hills behind him bellowed up like hunch-backs as kids walked to and fro down the beach, laughing and cheering as they made sand-castles and kites.  
Jack didn't know how long he was standing there. It seemed like an eternity. Finally, a peaceful moment where he could just stand on the hot sands of the beach and just remember what it had been like a few years previous to be standing on the beach of the place he missed more than anything else. The one place he had been happy.  
He sighed, looking down at his white T-shirt and baggy, brown pants. His long, dark beard tickled his neck and his eyes were red with tears as he remembered standing on the beach with her...  
Turning around slowly, be began to make his way toward his truck when, quite suddenly, he stopped and stared at something down the beach that was all too familiar and surreal. It couldn't be true...could it?  
By a pair of trees where the kids were building a sand castle, there was a man staring back at him. He was standing as straight as a board wearing nothing but a black suit and he couldn't tell anything else about him but that. Jack blinked and the man was suddenly gone. It reminded him of the time where he had hallucinated his father on the island. Was it happening to him again? Impossible. It was a trick of his mind. Couldn't have been real...  
He turned his head and continued up the beach toward his truck, leaving his sad memories of peace behind him...

**END OF FLASH-FORWARD**

"Jack?"  
Jack awoke with the start on his side, staring blearily into the burnt out fire pit before him. He shook his head and leaned up, finding Kate looking down at him with a raised eyebrow and her hands on her hips. "Sorry, did I wake you?"  
"No, no..." Jack muttered groggily. "I was just counting..."  
"Counting what?" Kate asked.  
"How many sheep were jumping over a fence in my dream."  
She smiled at his somewhat corny joke as he stood up and brushed dirt off of his knees. "Is everyone awake?" He asked.  
"Kind of, not really..." Kate said, looking around at everyone in their temporary tents. Jin was sitting by a freshly made fire cooking a fish while Sun slept peacefully by his side with her head resting softly against a pillow and a blanket over her body. Jin smiled and looked at her, admiring her beauty before returning to his fish.  
"You wanna scout the area ahead?" Kate asked.  
"What?" Jack muttered, looking at her.  
"We don't know what's down this mountain." Kate told him. "I think it'd be safer to scout ahead and make sure everything's alright while most of the camp is still asleep."  
"Yeah." Jack nodded in agreement. "When you want to go?"  
"Before everyone wakes up and wants to leave." Kate said simply, shrugging her backpack on. Jack smiled, watching her go get ready before reminding himself to get ready as well.

A hatchet smashed through the bushes as John Locke, led by Benjamin Linus, headed through the jungle by themselves toward the location of Ben's people. Both men looked bloody and forlorn. Locke, with a gash in his side that had already healed and bloodstains all over his clothes. And then there was Ben, who had been beaten multiple times by Jack and looked ready to collapse.  
"So tell me more about the "Temple." " Locke said.  
"What more do you want to know?" Ben asked.  
"All you told me about it was that it was where your people originated from." Locke frowned.  
"That's because that's what you asked." Ben muttered.  
"Is it another hatch?"  
Ben raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "That's a very wild guess, John."  
"Well there's so many on this island with obscure names I wouldn't be surprised." Locke said with a sarcastic little frown.  
Ben simple stared at him with his beaten in face. "No, it's not a hatch."  
"Then what is it?" Locke asked.  
"It's exactly what I called it." Ben said.  
"Well there are a lot of different types of temples." John continued. "Are your people religious, or--?"  
Ben scoffed at this. "Don't you remember about what I said about God not being able to see this island?" He asked. Locke gave him a questioning look before remembering briefly about this. Ben had told him this when he was under the alias of Henry Gale down in the Swan station.  
"Our people aren't religious." Ben smirked.  
"Then what are you people?" Locke asked.  
"We were simply here first." Ben frowned, a taste of spite in his tone. "We're here."  
Ben stopped and Locke stepped around him, peering through the bushes and looking ahead in amazement.   
There was a huge clearing with a massive, stone-made structure that stood stoutly before them. There were windows in the rocks giving it the look of a giant house with multiple levels that got smaller as the temple got higher, almost like a pyramid. He couldn't see anyone from his point of view but he could hear sounds coming from the other side of one of the many tall walls. This was the Temple.

**LOST**

Locke stared at the temple in awe for a few moments before looking back at Ben who was staring right back at him, watching his expression carefully. "What is this place?"  
Ben smiled weakly. "Why don't you go find out for yourself?"  
Locke frowned. "Are your people here?"  
"Yes, at the entrance." Ben said, nodding his head to indicate that it was on the other side of the temple to where they stood.  
"Well why don't I go see Richard, I'm sure he--" Locke began and Ben's face fell.  
"Richard?" He interrupted. "Why do you believe that you can trust him?"  
Locke's smile widened. "I don't. But just from talking with him once, he's been a lot more honest than you have been."  
He turned to move in when Ben suddenly said "John, Richard and my people will be asking questions about what happened to you and me. And you promised you wouldn't tell them the truth. So when they interrogate you, wouldn't you rather wait until after you explore the temple?"  
Locke raised an eyebrow curiously. He brought up a very good point. Of course, he could always just tell them the truth and screw Ben over once and for all, and yet somehow he still found that idea uncomfortable. He'd made a promise...and maybe if he explored the temple and found out something before he was interrogated he could use it to his advantage. And so the side that wanted answers won over the side that wanted revenge upon Ben.  
"Alright." He said slowly. "But you're staying here."  
WHAM! Ben spun around as Locke knocked him unconscious with the side of his gun to his head. Ben hit the forest floor with a thud, bleeding into the leaves with a dead silence. Locke glared down at him for a moment before turning around and heading toward the wall in front of him. He crouched down and walked along it, covered in a shadow until he arrived at the corner. He slowly turned his head and looked over the side and found what appeared to be some sort of construction yard. There were at least twenty or so people hauling rocks in wheelbarrows into the jungle. Where they got these rocks, Locke didn't know. He didn't see Richard anywhere.  
And so he sneakily ran and hid behind a boulder, holding his pistol out in front of him in case someone had seen him and was planning to sneak up on him. He continued, hiding behind rocks that had not been hauled off yet until he arrived at the entrance. It was a big, dark, square opening that led downward into the temple. He looked at it for a moment before walking inside, making sure to check if the coast was clear.  
As he made his way down the dark tunnel underneath the temple, he saw a pair of stone stairs ahead of him along with open doorways leading into other dark tunnels. He ignored them and continued straight to the stairs but stopped when he found that one of the tunnels had a door blocking it's' path. Locke stared at the door for a moment, something catching his eye. There was an inscription upon the door. He approached it and wiped the dirt off of the inscription to see what it said.

4 8 15 16 23 42.

Locke blinked. Those numbers were the numbers he had to constantly input into the keyboard for the computer inside of the swan station. Frowning, not liking these numbers at all, he decided to push the door in. It was quite heavy and he was trying hard not to make a whole lot of noise in case someone came down and found him. So when it was only cracked open enough so that he could squeeze through, he managed to step inside.  
But it was not another long, dark tunnel. It was a big, dome room. And in the center of the room was a grave sticking out of the ground. That was all that stood out in the emptiness that surrounded him. He approached the grave cautiously before bending over and reading what it said.

Joshua J. Magnus

Locke stared at the grave with a raised eyebrow, wondering who on earth Joshua Magnus could have been.

"You ready?" Jack asked, strapping his backpack over his shoulder, to Kate who stood next to him putting a cap back on a water-bottle.  
"I've been ready." She smirked and together they started off.  
"Hey!" Sawyer called, catching up to them. They both turned and stopped, Kate giving him a raised eyebrow.  
"What?" She asked.  
"Heard you two are heading off to scout the rest of the land." Sawyer panted. "Was wondering if, uh, I could come with."  
Jack looked at Kate, not really caring and giving her a look that told her she could decide. Kate frowned and said "You need to stay behind, act as kind of a leader while we're away."  
Sawyer blinked, not expecting this answer at all. "Act as a leader? Why me?"  
"Well who else is there?" Kate asked. "You were there for them when me, Sayid, Locke and Jack were gone for a week."  
"Yeah, but--" Sawyer started.  
"She's right." Jack interrupted. "Sorry, man...We'll be back in a little bit, alright?"  
Sawyer looked down at his feet, trying to think of some other excuse. He really didn't like the idea of the doc and freckles going out into the jungle alone...especially now since Kate and him were still on sort of bad terms.  
"Whatever..." He muttered grudgingly, turning and leaving them alone. Kate watched him with a kind of apologetic look before turning and following Jack through the jungle and down the side of the mountain.

**FLASH-FORWARD**

The pair of shades over his eyes gave Jack a very grungy/hippy look, especially with the grizzly beard he now had. He sat in his truck looking at his rear-view mirror with a frown on his face as if he was waiting for something. He was sitting in a very neighborhoodly place in the dead of night. He sat for the longest time, just waiting, until suddenly a car pulled up in the driveway right where he could see in his mirror. His frown deepened as he watched the car door open.  
Kate stepped out, carrying groceries and looking forlorn about something as she walked up to the front door, unlocked it, and went inside. Jack remained in his truck, watching Kate's house with a disgruntled expression. He knew what was going to happen. He knew who she was going home to and what awaited her inside...  
His fists clenched around the steering wheel in frustration, looking away with a sigh. And then he stopped, seeing something that simply could not have been there.  
Standing in one of the windows in Kate's house, there was a man looking straight at him wearing the same black suit he'd seen on the person at the beach earlier on. Except once again, it was impossible to make out who exactly he was. Jack stared at him, lowering his sun-glasses in disbelief.  
It looked like he was trying to word something to him except it was inaudible. Two words, from the looks of it...  
And then a light inside the room came on and Jack heard a crying sound. He blinked and the man was gone. He stared at the window for a longest time, trying to figure out what just happened...and then he saw Kate come in holding a baby in her arms to hush it down.  
Jack looked away, unable to bear watching this anymore as he started up his truck and drove off down the road...

**END OF FLASH-FORWARD**

"So why did you want him to stay behind?" Jack asked as he and Kate walked through the jungle.  
"What?" Kate asked.  
"Sawyer." Jack looked at her. "He wanted to come, and I didn't care if he did...but you didn't want him to..."  
"The camp needed a leader." Kate muttered.  
"We weren't going to be gone long enough for them to need a leader, Kate." Jack smirked. "Why did you really want him not to come?"  
Kate looked down uncomfortably. "The two of us, we're...we're not doing so good." She admitted.  
Jack nodded, looking away and understanding. "Figured..." He muttered.

Locke exited the tomb and back into the long, dark hallway of the underground temple. He looked around to make sure it was still quite empty and continued on until he reached the stairway. He slowly walked up, being careful not to step on any traps, if there were any. He reminded himself briefly of Indiana Jones and how a giant boulder might come flying down the stairs and chase him outside. He smirked at the idea and continued on up until arriving at yet another doorway except this one had a huge room inside and there were lights flickering on and off overhead. He entered, looking around curiously and wondering how there could be lights if there were no electricity cords. He was answered almost immediately when he found a cluster of wires bundled together, leading through a hole outside somewhere. Some of the wires were connected to the lights, but most of them were connected to a bunch of computers lined up along the walls. Locke was reminded painfully of the swan station's dome room once again. There was even a little computer monitor in the center of the room sitting on a stone desk. It had a black screen and green words blinking on it.  
As he approached the computer screen, he noticed that were was an old, worn-out painting hanging over the doorway behind him. Locke stared at it for a moment. In the painting, there was a man and a woman dressed in ragged clothing except their faces looked like they had been torn out of the picture.  
John turned and found himself standing right in front of the computer. He bent over and looked at the keyboard. It was the same kind of keyboard and computer screen that he'd seen in the swan, except the words on this screen were rather different.

**Enter 108 for V.A.**

Locke stared at the words for the longest time, wondering what "V.A." could mean. He looked at the number and saw that it was the number 108. The sum of 4 8 15 16 23 and 42. It was also the amount of time he had in-between pressing the button at the swan station. He frowned, wondering why in the hell these numbers were so important.  
He looked at the words again with a frown. Last time he listened to a computer, a building exploded. And before that, a hatch imploded. What would happen if he pressed this button? But what would happen if he didn't?  
If only he'd brought Ben in with him...no, Ben would've lied somehow and just confused him...plus, he would've given away Locke's position...  
With a sigh, he typed in 108.  
Curiosity lifted John's finger and rested over the button on the keyboard that said "execute". With a moment's hesitation, he decided to press it...  
...And nothing happened. John blinked, looking around the room to see if anything had changed. The computer screen bleeped and went white for a few moments and then a message popped up that said **"V.A. RETURN TIME: 08:00:00."**

Jack grabbed Kate's hand and helped her over a tipped over tree in their path and was about to continue down the side of the mountain when suddenly the ground began to shake and they both froze.  
"Is it the monster?" Kate asked.  
"No, we'd here it by now..." Jack muttered, looking around in worry.  
The people back at the camp were yelling in panic as the whole mountain shook, almost as if an earthquake was surrounding it. Sun grabbed Jin and he held her tightly close to him while Bernard and Rose sat down and looked around with worried expression.  
Aaron cried in Claire's arms and she tried to calm him down while Hurley grabbed Vincent's leash and held the dog tightly.  
Rousseau, Alex, and Karl were in the center of the group looking around as Alex and Karl stared at each other in horror. "Not now..." Alex muttered.  
"What is it?" Rousseau asked her daughter.  
Sawyer took out his gun and looked around with Juliet in the front of the group. "caesar salad...!" He said loudly.  
"Where's Jack?" Juliet asked him.  
"The doc went with Kate out into the jungle to scout ahead!" Sawyer shouted over the rumbling sound. Juliet frowned, looking around worriedly.  
Meanwhile, a mile or so away on the other side of the mountain, Jack and Kate remained where they were by the edge of a valley in the jungle, waiting to see if the shaking was going to stop. And then, out of nowhere, boulders and rocks began to tumble down the sides of the cliffs just overhead.  
"RUN!!" Jack shouted and they both sprinted off into the valley as a landslide of earth tumbled down behind them, covering the path back to their camp. Jack jumped, grabbing Kate and pulling her out of the way of the rockslide and into the jungle. They watched the rocks pile up behind them as they both lay in the grass panting heavily and wondering what in the world was going on.  
The shaking of the earth slowly began to stop, as did the landslide and when it did, Jack and Kate carefully stood up, wiping sweat from their foreheads and dirt from their clothes.  
"What was that?" She asked him.  
"I don't know." Jack frowned.  
"What now?"  
Jack stepped forward, examining the wall of rocks. "We can't climb over it, right now it's too unstable..." He muttered.  
"Can we go around?" Kate asked.  
"Looks like we have to." Jack sighed, stepping down and looking at her with exasperation. "You've got dirt on you." He added, wiping her cheek with his hand to get a smudge of mud off her face. She smiled, looking sideways as he did so.  
"Thank god I have a doctor here to help me get dirt off my face." Kate said with a playful chuckle.  
Jack smiled and turned. "Let's go."

**FLASH-FORWARD**

Jack walked down a hallway and stopped at a door, knocking on it quickly and hearing a woman inside say "Come in." He grabbed the handle, twisted, and let himself into an office.  
Except it wasn't really an office, it would've looked like one if it weren't for the red sofa that tilted upward for the head of the person to lay in it at the corner of the room. It was a therapy session room. There were walls of books all around him and a desk at the other end of the room with a chair behind it and a woman with blonde hair tied behind her head and a stern expression on her face. She looked up at him when he entered.  
"Mr. Shepard, you're late." She told him, taking a clipboard and standing up.  
"Sorry, I had...uh..." Jack muttered, trying to find an excuse.  
"No need to lie." The woman said, moving to sit in a seat opposite of the red sofa. She sat down and crossed her legs, looking up at him with an impatient smile. "I was about to leave and simply assume you forgot again. But of course, we both know it wasn't that."  
Jack frowned and slowly sat down on the red sofa, resting his head up and looking at the ceiling in a manner that showed if he had his way he wouldn't be here. "Sorry, Ms. Reid." he apologized in an undertone.  
"It's quite alright." The woman named Ms. Reid said. "I see you still haven't shaved your beard."  
"What's the point..." Jack muttered.  
"It's the first step of changing your life, Mr. Shepard." Ms. Reid told him, looking down at her clipboard and writing something on it with a blue pen.  
"I'm not ready to change my life yet." Jack sighed, rubbing his eyes.  
"That's right, last time you were here you said you wanted to end it." Ms. Reid said with a frown.  
Jack frowned, glaring at her briefly. He hated her more than anyone at the moment. But he didn't retaliate.  
"Tell me, how have you been holding up on your drinking?" She continued, looking up at him expectantly.  
"I've...taken a drink every afternoon for the past two and a half years..." Jack said. "Hell, who knows, maybe today will be my lucky day and I'll pass out before I get to the kitchen."  
"That's not funny, Jack." Ms. Reid said with a stern frown and writing something once again on her clipboard. Jack wanted to rip the board from her hands and beat her unconscious with it but decided to stay in his chair and continue with his pointless therapy sessions.  
"What about your drug addiction?" Ms. Reid asked.  
"It's not an addiction." Jack muttered, closing his eyes.  
"You stole from your own hospital, Jack." Ms. Reid smirked. "It's the reason you're in here in the first place."  
"I've been through my withdraws for that already." Jack said.  
"I already told you that you don't need to lie to me, Jack." Ms. Reid said, writing something again. Jack opened his eyes, getting extremely frustrated now.  
"Is there anything else you've been having problems with before we get started?" Ms. Reid asked.  
"Yeah." Jack muttered, sitting up. "Besides the fact that, according to you, I'm suicidal, a drunk, and a drug addict, then you might want to add to the list that I'm being stalked."  
Ms. Reid blinked and looked up at him. "Excuse me?"  
"Yeah." Jack said. "Everywhere I go lately I've been seeing a man in black following me around, trying to tell me something but I can't see his face."  
"Where do you see him at?" She asked curiously.  
"Just...places." Jack muttered, not seeing how this was important. "But when I try to get a better look at him, he just disappears..."  
Ms. Reid stared at him for the longest time, as if calculating something in her head. She lowered her clipboard and ripped off a piece of paper, writing something down on it. "Ever consider you're hallucinating?"  
Jack smiled. "I know what hallucinating feels like...this is different."  
"You can never be completely sure of when you're hallucinating and when you're not, Jack." Ms. Reid told him smartly and he frowned.  
"This is different!" He shouted. "I know he's there! He's tried talking to me!"  
"Y'know..." Ms. Reid ignored him. "I had a man in here three days ago with a similar problem as you."  
Jack blinked. "What?"  
"He had hallucinations he could have sworn were real." Ms. Reid said. "And he listened to them to the point where he was on the verge of insanity. And I'm pretty sure I managed to help him...I think, Jack..." She finished writing what was on the piece of paper. "That you should see this man."  
She handed the paper to him and he took it cautiously. "What's this?" he asked.  
"The address to where he lives. It's in a retirement home." Ms. Reid told him. "And if I were you, I'd see him."  
Jack frowned, looking at her for a second or two as if deciding something before slipping the paper into his pocket. "I'm done here." He said, standing up.  
"Your session isn't over, Jack." Ms. Reid told him.  
"Then pretend like I wasn't here." Jack muttered darkly, leaving the room and slamming the door behind him.

**END OF FLASH-FORWARD**

Jack grabbed Kate's hand and helped her over some rocks as they made their way through the forest and around the side of the mountain.  
"How long until we get back?" Kate asked.  
"I'd say...about forty minutes or so." Jack said with a reassuring nod.  
Kate smiled and looked down. "So what are you going to do when we get rescued, Jack?" She asked.  
"I don't know." Jack said honestly. "If Naomi was right then everyone thinks we're dead. So when we get back we're all probably going to have a pretty big welcome party."  
"We'll be famous." Kate grinned.  
"Maybe." Jack said, continuing on and ducking under some trees. They arrived at a growth of bushes leading upward.   
"Jack..." Kate said, her face becoming serious now. "Do you think we'll see each other after we get rescued?"  
"Of course." Jack told her, looking around to check if the coast was clear. "Why wouldn't we?"  
"I'm not just talking about the others; I mean...you and me?" Kate said, making Jack stop and look at her in surprise.  
"Well...yeah." He said.  
Kate smiled again and approached him. "Last night, when you were with Juliet..." She said. "I was standing behind a tree listening..."  
Jack didn't know what to make of this. He looked away with a smile on his face. "You heard me?"  
"Yeah." Kate said. "Did you mean it?"  
"Mean what?" Jack asked, still not looking directly at her.  
"When you told her that...all you wanted was what's best for me?" Kate asked, shifting her eyes as she came even closer to him.  
Jack nodded his head in silence and said "Yeah, I did."  
Kate's smile grew as she stood, only a foot away from him. "And did you mean it...when you said you loved me a few days ago?"  
Jack looked down at her at last and they made eye contact. "Yeah...I did." He said.  
There was a minute's pause, as they both looked at each other. Neither of them had been this close since the first time they had kissed back on the other side of the island. Jack could tell she wanted it, the way she looked into his eyes, the longing expression on her face that told her to throw away whatever it was that was holding her back and to let herself do whatever she pleased.  
They could'nt hold back anymore. Both of them moved forward at the same time and pressed their lips against each other's desperately releasing the romantic tension that had held them back for so long. Kate didn't care about Sawyer right now and Jack didn't care about Juliet. Together, they were without a care in the world.  
They fell back into the bushes, Jack lifting up his shirt and Kate lifting up hers' as well. They collided their lips once more and continued, rolling through the grass in simple bliss.

Ben opened his eyes and found himself looking up at John Locke, who was standing over him with a frown on his face and his arms crossed with a knife in his hands. "Get up." he muttered, grabbing him by the collar and forcing Ben to stand.  
"I'm glad you came back for me." Ben muttered sarcastically.  
"What does V.A. mean?" Locke demanded.  
Ben blinked. "Excuse me?"  
"Don't you beat around the bush, tell me what it means." Locke said, pointing the knife at him. "What happens when the 8 hours are up?"  
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ben said, flabbergasted.  
Locke glared at him. "Inside your temple, there is a room with a bunch of computers and a painting. On the computer, it said "Enter 108 for V.A." now you tell me what that means or I'll skin you where you stand." Locke pointed the knife at Ben's throat threateningly.  
Ben, however, was staring at Locke incredulously. "John..." He said. "Did you enter the numbers?"  
"Yes, I did." John replied, looking around to see if anyone had followed him out.  
"Well, there's something you should know before you 'skin me where I stand'." Ben said, catching his attention. "Remember how I told you I used to be with the dharma initiative when I was a kid? Well, I left them and joined with the people who are with me now."  
"I know all that." John said, not seeing the point of this story.  
"But when I first met them, they weren't living here." Ben continued. "They were living somewhere else. They had lived here before the dharma initiative had come but they were forced to evacuate when they took it over."  
"What?" Locke asked, not expecting this answer.  
"It means that we haven't visited this temple since then. And when they did live here, there was no computer room..." Ben said with a frown.  
"Are you saying the dharma folks set all that stuff up in there?" Locke asked. "Why?"  
"I don't know." Ben muttered. "This is all news for me."  
"Why didn't you visit this place until now?" Locke asked suspiciously.  
Ben smiled. "You'll think it's stupid. In fact, it'd be stupid of you to even believe the answer."  
"Tell me." John said, moving the knife even closer to Ben's neck.  
Ben sighed, seeing no way out of not telling him. "We believe this place is...haunted."  
Locke couldn't help but smirk. "Haunted?" he repeated in disbelief.  
"Yes, John. Haunted." Ben said.  
"Is that the best you can come up with?" John asked with a sneer. "Haunted? What, now there are ghosts on this island? Do you think I'm stupid?"  
"I told you that you wouldn't believe me." Ben sighed.  
"Why should I?" Locke asked.  
"Because it is, John." said someone behind Locke.  
Locke wheeled around and was surprised to find Richard standing with Sayid in the jungle facing them.  
"Sayid?" Locke uttered in shock.  
"Hello, John." Sayid said, glaring at him and Ben.  
"Where have you been?" Ben asked.  
"I could ask the same for you." Richard said, noticing both of the men's wounds. "It looks like we have a lot to talk about."

Jack pulled his shirt over his head, standing in a clearing as he sighed and looked over his shoulder at Kate, who was doing the same and buttoning up her pants as well.  
She turned and smiled at him. "Hey."  
"Hey." He said, unable to help from grinning.  
"Nice detour." She muttered, brushing her bangs out of her eyes.  
Jack chuckled. "So what now?" He asked.  
"We should get back to camp." She said, looking at the ground and walking past him. She handed him his backpack and he took it, strapping it over his shoulders before leading Kate through the jungle once more on path, thinking of what they just did...

**FLASH-FORWARD**

Jack sighed with relief as he washed his hair and looked up at the shower head. Warm water ran down his body for a while as he scrubbed the day off of him and turned the knob to make the water stop rushing. He got out, wrapped a towel around his waist and looked into the mirror at his big, bushy beard.  
On his sink, there was a razor. He eyed the razor hesitantly for a moment or two before reaching out and grabbing it. Jack remembered what his therapist had said about if he shaved he was ready to continue with his life and accept everything and possibly make things better for himself...but he didn't want all of that. He just wanted to go back. To just be able to go back to the island again...  
He sighed and dropped the razor in the sink and instead grabbed the little orange canister of drugs. He swallowed two pills and shivered, before setting it back down on the counter and exited the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel.  
Once he was dressed in jeans and a jacket, he grabbed a bottle of alcohol from his refrigerator and sat down in a chair. His floor was scattered with maps of the world pointing out different degrees of weather, and climate changes along with places pointing out to where the island could possibly be at. He had long given up on finding the island on any maps and instead turned on the television, drinking his beer and letting the drugs take over him.  
"I'm disappointed with you, Jack."  
Jack jumped, standing up and looking around. He gasped and stumbled backward, knocking his old television over and it crashed loudly on the floor, breaking the screen. He didn't care, though, for standing in his kitchen was his father.  
Jack blinked, unable to believe what he was seeing. Was this a hallucination? No, he was right there, standing only five feet away from him. His own father?  
"D-dad?" He stuttered, standing up.  
"Hello, Jack." Christian Shepard greeted sadly.  
"What...What are you doing here?" Jack asked, pointing his hand at him. "You're dead. You can't be here."  
"Why can't I?" His father asked curiously.  
"What?"  
"Because this is the real world and not the island?" Christian continued. "Is that why you can't believe that I'm here."  
Jack stumbled a bit, grabbing the sofa with one hand to keep balance. "This isn't happening..." he muttered. "I'm just hallucinating."  
"You're not hallucinating, Jack." Christian said. "You've been seeing me everywhere for the past three weeks."  
Jack shook his head. "No."  
"Fine." Christian sighed, walking around him in the living room and stepping over all the maps on the ground. "You don't have to believe me...but, Jack. I'm here to help you."  
"Help me?" Jack repeated.  
"You want to get back to your island." Christian said. "There is a way you can do that. But in order for that to happen..." He pointed at Jack's jacket pocket. "You need to find the man on that piece of paper."  
Jack fumbled in his pocket and found the paper that the therapist had given him with the address of the retirement home on it along with the room number of where the man lived in. "Why do I need to find him? Who is he?"  
"You'll find out when you get there." Christian said, turning and heading for the door.  
"Dad, wait!" Jack shouted and he stopped, slowly turning to look at him. "Are you...Are you really disappointed in me?"  
Christian stared at him for the longest time, as if unsure of what to say. Or maybe he was afraid of what affect it would have on Jack if he said it. But despite whatever reason, he sighed and said "You've become even worse than I was when you betrayed me..."  
And with that, Christian Shepard, whether a hallucination or something else, turning and left through the door of Jack's apartment. Jack was left standing by his chair and the knocked-over television, staring at the place where his father had left him.

**END OF FLASH-FORWARD**

Sawyer looked up as Jack and Kate emerged from out of the jungle. They were walking together with an odd silence between them. Sawyer got up as everyone noticed them too.  
"What happened?" Sawyer asked.  
"There was a rock-slide, about fifteen minutes in." Jack told him. "We had to find a way around." He looked at the rest of the group who were watching him like they were awaiting orders. "But there's still a way down this mountain, and we can all leave in the next few minutes so get ready and we'll head down to the beach and wait for the ship to come."  
He left Kate standing awkwardly next to Sawyer, going to help Sun and Jin pack their bags.  
"You guys were out there for almost three hours." Sawyer muttered to Kate darkly, watching Jack leave.  
"Yeah, because we had to--" Kate began.  
"I know what you had to do." Sawyer interrupted. "But even I could've made it back within an hour and a half at a steady pace. What were you guys doing out there?"  
Kate frowned as he glared down at her accusingly. "Nothing." She said, walking away as well leaving him in a downright horrible mood.

As the group prepared to leave, Hurley was standing by the hill looking around at the island with a sad expression. Claire joined him, holding Aaron in her arms. He had finally stopped crying.  
"What are you doing?" She asked Hugo curiously, still a little shaken up from seeing Charlie in the jungle the previous day.  
"Nothin'..." Hurley muttered. "Just...saying goodbye."  
"To the island?" Claire raised an eyebrow.  
"Well, we've been here for three months..." Hurley said. "I guess...I dunno, despite all the monsters, baby-nappers, and explosions...I'm kinda gonna miss this place."  
Claire frowned and looked out into the rest of the jungle as well. "Well I'm not." She muttered. "I'll be happy to say goodbye to this place..."  
"Yeah, I guess." Hurley shrugged.

Jack looked up at the rest of the faces in his group as they all stood up and were ready to leave. "Alright, let's go!" He said, beginning his march over the side of the mountain with his people...

**FLASH-FORWARD**

Jack parked his truck in a parking lot and took off his shades, setting them down on the dashboard and looking out the window with a blank expression. In front of him was a big building that said "Sweet Oaks Retirement Home."  
With a sigh, he took out the piece of paper in his pocket and read the writing on it. Same address, same name. He crumpled it up in his hand and got out of his truck.  
Once inside, he checked with a woman at the counter, asking for the room "4-23." She told him where to go and he traveled to the elevator where he was joined by an old woman with long, blonde hair. She was crying into a cloth in her hands, looking mighty upset about something. Jack looked at her, only briefly, thinking her problems were probably not as big as the ones he had on his plate.  
He got out of the elevator on the fourth floor and walked down the dingy looking hallways until he arrived at the room that said "4-23".  
Jack stood there for a whole minute, staring at the door and remembering what his father had told him. If this man could help him get back to the island...then he had to talk to him. He just had to...  
And with that, he raised his hand and knocked twice...

**END OF FLASH-FORWARD**

As the group made their way down the side of the mountain and toward the beach, Hurley ran up to Jack with Vincent being dragged behind him on the leash.  
"Sup, dude." He greeted.  
"Hey, Hurley." Jack said.  
"So what happened out there?"  
"A land-slide happened." Jack responded, getting tired of telling the story to everyone.  
"Yeah, but, you and Kate were gone for quite a while." Hurley said, getting to his point at last. "And there's been rumors already about what you guys were up to."  
Jack smiled in spite of himself. "Well, it's none of their business."  
Hurley smiled as well but didn't leave just yet. "So, how do you plan on convincing the people on the boat to wait up for Desmond and Charlie? Oh, and Sayid and Locke too?"  
"I'll think of something." Jack said, not really worrying about that too much.  
"Alright, because we can't leave without anyone." Hurley muttered in relief.  
"I don't plan on it." Jack told him reassuringly, continuing the lead.

He stepped out of the jungle and onto the beach, not having been on a beach for a few days, he could now finally see the ocean out in front of him. Jack and the rest of the group emerged and stood huddled together looking out into the open water.  
"I don't see anything." Sun said, putting her hands up over her eyes to block out the sun's rays.  
"It'll be here soon." Jack told them, calming a few of the survivors down as they started to mutter with worried looks. "It had engine problems on the way here. I'm going to call them in a few minutes after we all take a rest, alright?"  
There were murmurs of agreement as a few people took a seat in the sand and Hurley took the dog up to the shoreline to play in the water.  
Jack set his pack down in the ground and unzipped it, taking out the satellite phone and turning it on. He saw the green light at the top blink on and smiled, pressing the buttons he had remembered from when Naomi had instructed him.  
"Look!" Hurley called out suddenly.  
Jack wheeled around, as did the rest of the group and stared at Hurley, who was pointing out into the ocean with a wide grin on his face. They all moved forward and peered off into the distance as well...  
And there it was. A massive, black ship was coming over the horizon of the ocean with black smoke bellowing out of the top. Everyone couldn't help but laugh and cheer, seeing rescue at last. It was the one thing everyone had hoped to see ever since they had crashed on the island. The one thing they all hoped for and had slowly begun to believe that it would never come. Rescue at last!  
Jack looked back down at the phone, about to press the button to call the ship when suddenly there was a loud BAM! and the phone flew out of his hand, smashing to pieces in the air and scattering across the ground. People shrieked in surprise as Jack stumbled backward while Kate and Sawyer took out their handguns and looked for the shooter. Everyone looked around in shock and outrage, but none of them was angrier than Jack.  
Standing by the jungle was Locke, Sayid, Richard, and Ben. Ben was still bloody and bruised, Locke still had the wound in his side, and Sayid was holding a rifle up and aiming at the place where Jack's hands had been previously. It must've been him who had shot the phone out of his hands. And then there was Richard, standing peacefully off to the side with his hands crossed behind his back and a calm smile on his face.  
"Sayid!?" Jack shouted in betrayal.  
"I'm sorry, Jack." Sayid said. "It had to be done."  
"I was gonna call them!" Jack continued, pointing out over the ocean at the ship in the distance. "They're on their way here right now!"  
"Calm down, Jack." Locke told him.  
"Don't you EVER tell me to calm down again!!" Jack roared.  
Ben was staring at the ship in the distance with wide, horrified eyes. "It's too late..." He muttered. "We're all already dead..."  
Richard gave him a sympathetic look that clearly said he disagreed with Ben. He sighed and looked back at Jack before taking a few steps forward. "Jack..." He said.  
"Stay where you are!" Sawyer shouted, pointing his gun at him.  
"Lower your gun, Sawyer." Sayid told him calmly.  
"What? You gonna shoot me, Saddam?" Sawyer asked, sarcasm oozing from his tone. Sayid, however, pointed his rifle at him threateningly.  
"Sayid, don't." Richard told him.  
"Nothing any of you say are going to stop us from getting rescued!" Jack told Richard angrily. "Ben already tried, saying the people on the boat are--are dangerous!?"  
"They are dangerous." Richard told him reassuringly. "Naomi was a liar. It was a good thing John killed her before she had a chance to kill you."  
"She wasn't lying!?" Jack continued.  
"How do you know that?" Richard asked curiously.  
"If I had to choose between who to trust; Ben or Naomi, I wouldn't have to hesitate--even for a second!" Jack shouted.  
"I can see why you'd think that." Richard said, a little coldly as he looked over his shoulder at Ben for a moment, who didn't notice and was too busy staring in horror at the ship in the distance. "But you can trust me, Jack."  
"I don't even know who you are!" Jack said. "I didn't see you at all when they had me on that other island."  
"That's because I had other things to do then, Jack." Richard sighed, not taking his eyes off of him. "My name is Richard Alpert, one of the original people to live on this island--"  
"Do you think-Do you honestly think that--I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHO YOU ARE!?" Jack raged on, approaching him now ready to fight.  
Sun clutched Jin's hand, looking between them all with confusion and fright as to what might happen next. Aaron was now crying once again in Claire's arms. Vincent was barking at Richard for some reason. Rousseau had her rifle raised now at Ben, watching him carefully.  
"Jack..." Richard sighed. "Please don't yell. I'm trying to talk with you calmly. We don't want to start a battle right here."  
"If you don't leave right now, there will be." Jack warned him, wishing he had a gun of his own at the moment. Instead he looked at Sayid, who still had his rifle raised. "What did they tell you?"  
Sayid looked at him with a frown. "Jack..."  
"What did they tell you that turned you against us?" Jack spat, unable to register everything that was going on.  
"There are no sides, anymore, Jack." Sayid told him. "Right now, you are about to make a decision that could kill everyone. Instead, you could come with us back to the temple where we can decide what to do from there."  
"I already know what we're doing!" Jack said.  
"We can't let you do this, Jack." Richard said. "If we can work together then--"  
"With you!?" Jack asked, almost laughing at the idea. "Working with you?"  
"How can we trust you?" Kate asked, joining in on the argument at last.  
"The people on this island are no longer "Others", Jack." Locke said, stepping forward. "The people on that ship are the new "Others." Because those people, we don't know anything about them and if Richard is telling the truth then we are all in danger!"  
"If you don't trust us, Jack..." Richard said. "Think of it this way. You outnumber our people 2 to 1 now. Not only that but you'll have Ben and myself as hostages in case our people do try and cause something. You have the upper hand right now? So tell me, why are you so afraid of us? You've lived with us before, and if you can live with us again we can find a way to survive."  
Jack frowned, shaking his head. "No..." He muttered. "No! There is rescue right there! There's no point going back with you!"  
"Stop being naive, Jack." Richard said. "If we were honestly your enemies then why are we here now trying to save you?"  
Jack opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again but was unable to come up with a response. Kate lowered her weapon slightly, looking up at Jack with a worried expression. Whatever Jack decided to do, she was with him. Sawyer, however, kept his gun raised and glaring at them all. Everyone else remained rooted to the spot in suspense, watching the heated argument begin to come to an end. They could tell Jack was beginning to consider this...but...  
"I can't...!" Jack said finally. "I can't just turn my back on that ship! I can't just give up!"  
"You'll be giving up if you stay and wait for that ship." Richard told him, walking up to him again so that he was only a few feet away. He held out his hand for Jack to shake, as if performing a peace agreement.  
Jack looked at the rest of his people. Most of them were staring at him, waiting for a decision. What if the boat really was rescue and that joining Richard's people was the wrong decision...but what if it wasn't? What if, for once, Ben had been telling him the truth?  
"Alright..." Jack sighed, grabbing Richard hand firmly and shaking it. Sawer stared at them incredulously and lowered his weapon, as did Sayid and Rousseau. "But on one condition..."  
"Alright." Richard said, raising his eyebrow slightly.  
"When we get back to wherever your people live, I call all the shots." Jack said. "Nothing gets by without me knowing."  
"Alright." Richard said. "You got it."  
"And no matter what happens." Jack continued fiercely. "I am finding a way off this island."

**FLASH-FORWARD**

Jack knocked twice, wiping his eyes of tears as he remembered that moment on the island where he had agreed to join sides with Richard. He sighed, taking in a deep breath as he waited outside the door.  
There was someone on the other side yelling something inaudible. Jack frowned, continuing to wait patiently until the doorknob turned and opened.  
Jack blinked and stepped back, nearly stumbling into the wall. "You..." He muttered in horror and shock.  
For in the doorway before him, sitting in a wheel-chair, was John Locke.

**LOST**

Next time on LOST  
**4x06: Fool's Run (Desmond Centric)****  
It's been three days, and we haven't heard from Desmond. What happened to him? Why has he not caught up with the survivors? And what perilous journey will he have to take in order to catch up?**


	6. Fool's Run

**4x06: Fool's Run (Desmond Centric)**

**3 Days ago**

The ocean water rippled smoothly under the sunlight above, untouched and undisturbed as a canoe sat atop of the surface with two paddles inside of it. It shifted silently against the top of the ocean in peace. And yet there was a sense of something bad that was going to happen to disrupt the tranquility in the water...  
And then it happened, Desmond' head shot out of the ocean, shaking his hair around to get his bangs out of his eyes. He gasped, breathing heavily and seeing the island off in the distance. Grabbing the edge of his boat, he pulled himself into it with a grunt, landing inside and rocking it roughly.  
The image of Charlie's message on his hand was still imprinted on his mind. "Not Penny's Boat." What the bloody hell did that mean? He'd seen Charlie talking to her on the monitor right before the water rushed in and he drowned...Had she talked to him? Did she tell him that she wasn't on the boat? She must've...But then that meant...  
Desmond frowned, sitting up and glaring at the island determinedly. It meant that Naomi and whoever was on her boat were liars. Jack and his people were heading into a trap!  
He grabbed a paddle and began to stroke left and right through the water back toward the island. As Desmond did so, he felt something in his chest pocket and took it out to see what it was.  
The list of "Greatest Hits" that Charlie had made right before going underwater. He'd given it to Desmond to give to Claire when he got back... He stared at the wet piece of paper for a moment or two before folding it back up inside of his chest pocket and continuing his swim toward the island.

**LOST**

**FLASHBACK**

The wall of red paint stood before him as Desmond sat in a chair staring down at his feet inside of his apartment. The wall was still unfinished with spots of white everywhere along the edges. There were two buckets of red paint on the floor but Desmond was not at all in the mood to do anything about it. He was sitting in the chair with a bottle of whiskey in his hand and staring at his feet.  
A clock behind him ticked quietly every second and even though it annoyed him, he had no will to get up and smash it. His body felt numb.  
With a sigh, he took another drink of his alcohol and sat back, staring at the red wall in front of him with a fallen expression. Slowly, Desmond reached inside of his pocket and pulled a photo out. The photo of him and Penny standing in front of the docks at a harbor. At least, that's what the back-drop had looked like.  
Desmond stared at it briefly for a second or two before his eyes started to burn and uncontrollable tears began to roll down his cheeks in sorrow. He began to sob, dropping his hand so he didn't have to look any longer. "P-Penny..." He muttered in-between cries. "I'm so sorry..."  
The picture slipped from his fingers and hit the ground like a feather. With another great sob, he stood up and smashed the bottle into the wall.  
Desmond yelled in despair, rushing to the clock and smashing it into the red wall as well. He kicked the buckets, spilling paint all over the floor and onto his socks. But he didn't care. He didn't care about anything anymore. He'd given up the only thing in his life that had been worth living for and now it was over because...because he was a coward.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Desmond ran as fast as he could along the shore toward his beach where he'd left only a few hours earlier. He kicked sand up behind him as he ran, not caring about the boat he left behind him.  
Finally, he spun around the corner of some bushes and arrived upon the deserted camp sight. He stopped and looked around in confusion. It looked like there had been a war here. Blown up tents, dead bodies in a pile, tracks that looked like it'd come from some sort of van...  
Desmond approached the bodies cautiously and was relieved to find that they were all people he did not recognize which meant that his people must've won the battle. He continued looking around, seeing that the tire tracks led off into the jungle once again which meant they left without him...  
And that's when he spotted it, a note on a tree nearby. Desmond ran up to it and tore it off.

_Hey, dude.  
We're heading to the north side of the island on the beach 'cus that's where they're rescuing us. Jack got the signal through which means you guys did well. Hope you catch up to us, don't worry, we'll wait.  
-Hurley_

Desmond frowned. They were already gone; they could've been gone for hours. And if they were driving...they were probably already half-way across the island by now. But the thing that disturbed him most was the fact that he was going to have to explain to all of them why he was coming back alone and why Charlie wasn't with him...and how he had died...for nothing.  
He wasn't going to let Charlie's death be for nothing. If he could tell them that it wasn't Penny's boat then he could save them and Charlie's sacrifice would mean something.  
With that on his mind, he set off into the jungle...

**FLASHBACK**

Desmond awoke to the sound of a knock at his door. He blinked and sat up, muttering groggily in his bed as he tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness around him. "Coming!" He called to the knocker, rolling off of his bed and putting a shirt on loosely. He stumbled to the door, feeling the side-affects of being drunk only a few hours previously take affect and give him a major headache.  
He opened the door and found himself looking at three men in black suits. They were very clean and big. They didn't look like they belonged in a grungy flat like his.  
"Mr. Hume?" The man in the middle asked.  
"Yes?" Desmond nodded. "Who are you?"  
"We're here to ask you a few questions." The man responded. "We have a warrant to search your...if you'd call this a house."  
Desmond's face fell into a frown. "A warrant? Why?"  
The two men on either side of the speaker entered and passed Desmond. He would've stopped them but they were bigger and Desmond didn't want to get his ass beat at the moment. So he let them walk inside. The speaker entered as well and sat down. Desmond took a seat as well, suddenly feeling as if he had no control of what was going to happen inside of his own flat.  
"My name is David Ross." The speaker introduced himself with a drawling tone. "We were informed by a Mr. Whidmore that you stole an item of value from him when you went to have an interview with him three weeks ago."  
"What?" Desmond blinked in shock. "I never stole anything!"  
"Really?" Mr. Ross asked, raising an eyebrow but not looking surprised at all. "You're lucky we came before the police did. They need us to ask you questions before they can take you off to jail."  
"Well you asked your question!" Desmond said, his voice rising. "I never stole anything!"  
Ross smirked. "You broke up with your girlfriend recently, right?"  
"What?" Desmond received another shock. How did he know that?  
"She was Mr. Whidmore's daughter, wasn't she?"  
"What does that have to do with anything?" Desmond asked rudely.  
"Well, you get denied of a big opportunity by her father...maybe he made you feel like you weren't good enough for his daughter and you got rid of her..." Ross said. "But then you became unhappy and wanted revenge on him for what he did to you. Maybe you decided to steal something during your interview with him the day after you broke up."  
Desmond frowned as Ross went on. "Why did you go for another interview when you already failed the first one? Especially when the man you're being interviewed by is the father of the woman you just threw away?"  
"That's none of your business!" Desmond snapped.  
"Ah, I see." Ross sighed, closing his hands together in his lap. The two large men came walking next to him as he rose from the seat. "We'll be seeing you in the next couple days. You better save up your money in case there's a court date."

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Running through the jungle as fast as he can, Desmond followed the tracks of the dharma van through he jungle. He was carrying nothing but his backpack over his shoulders and he hoped that was all he was going to need. If he encountered a polar bear or a boar he'd just have to run because he had no weapon to fight back with.  
"Desmond!"  
Desmond came to an abrupt stop, hearing his voice somewhere nearby. He spun around, trying to find who had called out to him. That voice had sounded familiar. Who had it been? What was going on? The wind sounded like whispers going through the trees. He continued to circle around where he stood, beginning to get a little frightened.  
And there he was. Standing in a clearing up ahead was Charlie Pace staring right back at him. He was dripping wet and had sunken eyes. Desmond stared at him in horror and confusion. "Charlie?"

"Charlie?" Desmond repeated in disbelief. "You're...you're dead!"  
Charlie smiled a little. "Yeah, I am."  
"Then how-Who are you?" Desmond asked in a stutter.  
"I'm Charlie." Charlie replied.  
"But you're dead! How are you here?!" Desmond demanded.  
"That's not important right now, Des." Charlie said. "I'm here because you're heading toward danger."  
"Danger?" Desmond repeated.  
"Yes." Charlie said.  
"And how do you know that?"  
It felt odd, Charlie was dead and yet here he was talking to Desmond as if he'd never died at all. Was he hallucinating?  
"Your flashes stopped, haven't they?" Charlie asked.  
"Yeah." Desmond said, approaching him. "After you died!"  
"Desmond, calm down." Charlie told him.  
"Why are you here?" Desmond asked.  
"I just told you, you're heading toward danger."  
"I'm going to save them!" Desmond shouted.  
Charlie's smile fell. "No you're not, Desmond."  
"Yes, I am!" Desmond said, beginning to walk past him.  
"If you try and save them, you'll only be running like a fool." Charlie said, following after him. "They'll be fine without you."  
"You said it yourself, that it was not Penny's boat." Desmond snapped. "And they don't know that! They're heading toward danger, not me."  
"You won't find what you're looking for." Charlie told him darkly.  
Desmond ignored him and continued off into the jungle with a determined look in his eyes. His mind was just playing tricks on him. Charlie wasn't there at all. He was just imagining things.

**2 Days ago**

Desmond sat in the jungle by the fireside glaring into the flames. He was about half-way across the island now. He still had time to catch up with them. He could still save them all. He had to.  
Charlie came walking out of the jungle and took a seat across the fire from him, dropping a load of wood into the pit of flames. "Thought you could use some more light." He said to him with a friendly smile.  
"Stop following me." Desmond muttered.  
"I can't." Charlie grinned.  
"You're just a hallucination." Desmond said. "You're the part of me that's afraid and wants me to just stay away from danger."  
"Well I'm a little hurt that you'd think that." Charlie said. "But everyone's entitled to their own opinions I suppose."  
"Shut it." Desmond sighed, refusing to look at him and instead rested against the side of a tree.  
There was a moments silence as the man who appeared to be Charlie stared at him. And then he looked away and said "You know...This fool's run you're going on...why are you so determined to get back to them?"  
"Because they're in danger. We went through this." Desmond snapped.  
"That's true...but I don't think that's what's driving you." Charlie said. "There's only been one thing on this island that's been driving you, and that's your will to see Penny again. And when you found out that your boat didn't have Penny on it...I think there's a part of you that doesn't want to believe that. I think there's a part of you that believes that you will see her again."  
"You couldn't be more wrong, brother." Desmond muttered, closing his eyes.  
"Can't blame you, really." Charlie went on. "I mean, it's the second time in the past week where you thought you'd see your girlfriend again and it's been snatched out of your hands. First with Naomi, and now with this..."  
"I told you to shut it!" Desmond snapped, getting frustrated.  
"Alright." Charlie said, standing up. "I'll be back when you'll need me again."  
"I don't need you." Desmond snarled as Charlie walked away and he was left sitting by the fire alone...

**FLASHBACK**

"Beautiful..." Desmond muttered, finishing the last brush-stroke upon the painting and handing it to the lovely couple in front of him.  
He was on the streets in London with a pile of paintings sitting in a stack behind him along with a few of his best works hanging up for the public to see. He was painting pictures of couples who paid him.  
"Thank you." The man he'd just painted said, handing him money and walking away with the painting in hand and talking to his girlfriend happily.  
Desmond watched them go with a sad face before taking a sigh and setting his brush down. He turned to grab a clean paper when suddenly he found himself facing non-other than Penelope herself.  
She was standing by the ally looking down at him with a frown on her face and her arms crossed. Desmond stared at her with wide, horrified eyes. He didn't want her to see how low he'd gotten since they broke up. "Penny...?" He muttered. "What are you doing here?"  
"I heard of a painter drawing couples." Penny said, a little shakily. "And you weren't home...so I went looking for you."  
"Why?" Desmond asked.  
"Because I..." Penny looked down. "My father told me what you did."  
Desmond frowned. So that's why she was here. On daddy's orders?  
"He told me that you stole his money and his..." Penny was unable to go on. "Did you...is he telling me the truth?"  
Desmond looked at her for a moment in silence before shaking his head. "No, he didn't."  
"Then why is he accusing you of this if you didn't steal it?" Penny asked angrily.  
"Because I am the easiest to blame!" Desmond shouted. "Because he hates me! Because I broke his daughter's heart and he got exactly what he wanted!"  
Penny shook her head, sniffing. "Then who stole it?"  
"I don't know!" Desmond said. "And I don't care! Don't you think if I'd stolen that money I would've been doing a bit better than I am right now?"  
"I don't think you stole the money." Penny said.  
Desmond blinked. "You think I stole the..." He paused, for some reason unable to say the last word. She stared at him, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry Penny, but I have to go..." he muttered, standing up and shifting the paintings under his arms.  
"The court date is in two weeks." Penny told him sadly.  
"I know." Desmond muttered grudgingly as he left her by the ally confused, alone, and sobbing...

**END OF FLASHBACK**

As the morning sun rose over the island, Desmond ran through the jungle once again. As he went, however, he arrived at a scene he'd not been expecting to encounter.  
In the clearing in front of him there was a huge cliff that stretched out over toward the mountains. He approached the cliff slowly, looking down and seeing a broke bridge on each side of the earth walls. It was too long of a distance to jump. "Great..." he muttered."Just perfect."  
"Pretty big leap." Charlie said, joining his side from out of nowhere and making him jump.  
"Go away." Desmond said to him rudely.  
"Why are you acting like this toward me? Aren't we friends?" Charlie asked.  
"You're not real." Desmond said, still convinced.  
"I went and saw Claire a little earlier." Charlie smirked. "I think she misses me. Gave her a bit of a fright."  
"Stop lying and go away!" Desmond said, raising his voice.  
"How do you plan on crossing over?" Charlie asked, ignoring his order.  
"I'll go around." Desmond muttered with a frown. "It looks like it only stretches a few miles inland."  
"Can't do that, Des." Charlie sighed.  
"Yeah, and why not?"  
"Because there's a cave over there and if you go in that cave..." Charlie looked at him with a frown. "You'll die."  
"And how do you know that?" Desmond asked.  
"Because there's a reason you haven't been having your flashes of death anymore." Charlie said. "Because your life is about to end and I'm trying to help you out."  
Desmond chuckled under his breath. "Nice try. Goodbye, Charlie..." He turned and left his hallucination standing by the cliffs watching him go in disappointment.

As he made his way, Desmond thought about the things "Charlie" had told him. About how he'd been having flashes of his death. About being disappointed with knowing that Penny wasn't on the boat. Everything he'd told him didn't make sense. Charlie was dead. He'd seen him die... And Penny was probably nowhere near this island. He'd accepted that.  
He looked up and found himself facing a large cavern leading into the mountain. He wandered his eyes across the cliffs and found the other opening of the cave on the other side. All he'd have to do is go on in and get out. Sure, he didn't have a torch with him or anything to light a fire with at the moment, but he'd manage.  
With a deep breath, he entered, slipping his feet over the dry rocks to get inside. When Desmond was completely engulfed in darkness, all he could hear was the dripping sounds of the cavern walls around him. That meant there must be some sort of underground river or water-fall somewhere nearby.  
He continued along, feeling his way with one hand against the bumpy, wet wall next to him so that he didn't lose his way. He made sure to take careful steps. Just because he didn't believe what Charlie had told him didn't mean he couldn't be cautious.  
Desmond could hear a rushing sound getting closer and closer as he went. The shadows pressed against his eyes like a velvety blanket of darkness. The knowledge of being alone in a dark, rocky, wet place was terrifying and the fact that he couldn't even see where he was going made it even more horrible. Shouldn't there be a light at the end of the tunnel by now? He must've walked a long enough distance to be on the other side of the cliffs, right?  
And then it happened. His foot slipped against a rock on the ground and there was a furious roar behind him. He flung around, blindly waving his arms as he tripped and scrapped his back against the hard floor. There was something in there with him. He could hear it grunting in anger and pounding toward him through the tunnel.  
Desmond tried his best to get up in time. There was a big shape coming toward him covered in darkness. He turned and ran, stumbling along the rocks and sticking his arms out in front of him desperately. Panic had taken over him. He didn't know where he was going now or what was chasing him. But the hunter gave out another furious roar and slammed into a rock. As Desmond ran, he tripped on something and found himself falling into blackness. He yelled in horror, banging his ankle and his shoulder on rocks as he fell down a seemingly endless black hole in the ground. He knew once he hit the bottom he would be dead. This was it. He'd failed. Charlie had been right...

"Des!"  
Desmond yelled, raising his head and looking around wildly. It was still night time and he was sitting by the fire where Charlie had left him only he was still there. Charlie was sitting there looking at him with a smirk on his face. "Nice nap?"  
Desmond blinked. Everything that had just happened to him...It felt all so real... "Charlie?" He mumbled, standing up and gripping his shoulder. Neither his shoulder nor his ankle hurt from hitting that rock wall on the way down. He was completely fine. "What's going on?"  
"I showed you what I saw, Desmond." Charlie said. "You wouldn't listen to me any other way so I had to show you what would happen if you don't follow me."  
Desmond glared at him. "That broken bridge? The cliffs? The polar bear in the caves? None of it happened?"  
"Not yet." Charlie grinned, standing up as well and looking at him over the fire-light.  
"How? That-that's impossible. It felt so real!" Desmond yelled, unable to believe what had just happened.  
"You'd think that you of all people would be used to have flashes of the future." Charlie said sarcastically.  
Desmond glared at him. "How do I know that it wasn't a dream, eh?"  
"Because if it was then how would I know exactly what happened in it?" Charlie asked. "Now are you going to come with me or do you still think that I'm a little funky chip in your brain trying to coax you out of saving your friends?"  
Desmond looked at him, unsure of what to do or say. He'd just experienced an entire half-day inside of his own head. The longest flash he'd ever had, except this time it showed him dying instead of Charlie. "Alright..." he said, finally "I'll come with you."  
Charlie grinned again "Good."

"Where are you taking me?"  
"You'll see."  
"I'm tired of waiting, Charlie."  
"You'll see." Charlie repeated.  
"Just tell me." Desmond demanded impatiently.  
They both stopped, facing each other in the jungle. Charlie was in front of him looking annoyed.  
"I want my questions answered before I follow you anymore." Desmond said angrily. "I want to know why you're having flashes of my death. Why I have to follow you and where you're taking me. And most importantly, what the bloody hell are you?"  
"I'm Charlie." Charlie said with a grin. "Didn't we go over this already?"  
"You are dead!" Desmond shouted. "And if you're not a hallucination, then what are you?"  
Charlie's face fell slightly but he kept his composure. "I can't tell you that, Des."  
"Why?" Desmond demanded.  
"Because it's not important." Charlie told him. "What's important is the place that I'm going to show you."  
He turned and continued to walk through the jungle without another word. Desmond watched, opening his mouth to say something but deciding it'd be best to get his answers by following him.  
A few minutes more of walking, Charlie stopped and looked ahead of him at a clearing. "We're here." He muttered.  
Desmond joined him by his side and looked out into the giant clearing before them.  
There was a huge, black crater in the ground by a bunch of fences that looked to be torn down. Rubble was everywhere. It looked like there had been a building here that had blown up. "What is this place?" Desmond asked in confusion.  
"It was a dharma station called the Flame." Charlie said. "It exploded recently because of John Locke when they went to _rescue_ Jack. The man with the eye-patch you shot down in the Looking Glass Station lived here and worked on communicating with the rest of his people in the outside world. This is how they got reports on all of the survivors of flight 815. Except for you."  
Desmond looked at Charlie with a raised eyebrow as they walked into the clearing and stood by the crater. There was debris all over the ground and in the trees around them.  
"How come they didn't have a file on me?" Desmond asked.  
"Because you weren't on the flight, of course." Charlie replied simply. "They didn't even know you existed in the Swan station for the three years you spent on this island. It wasn't until recently when they decided to check your file out. They didn't get much. Most of it was blown away in the explosion. However..." He paused and bent over to pick something up in the dirt. A red folder with the name "Hume" on the front of it.  
"This managed to survive the blast." Charlie smiled, handing the folder to him. "There's something you should see."

**FLASHBACK**

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god?"  
"I do." Desmond said, resting one hand upon the bible and raising the other in the air beside him.  
As he seated himself behind the bench and watched the lawyer approach him wearing a gray suit and tie, Desmond sighed and thought about what was about to happen in court that day. In a way for him it was his judgment day. He'd been waiting for a month ever since Mr. Ross had come to see him at his flat and ever since he'd been thinking about what he was going to do and say.  
"Is it true, Mr. Hume." Mr. Whidmore's lawyer began. "That you were involved with Mr. Whidmore's daughter, Penelope?"  
"Yes." Desmond nodded honestly.  
"And is it true that while you were with her, you went to her father's company and had an interview with him that you passed but turned down?" The lawyer asked.  
"Yes." Desmond said again.  
"All because you just wanted his permission to marry his daughter?"  
"Yes."  
"Why?"  
"Excuse me?" Desmond looked up.  
"Why did you decline the job?" The lawyer questioned.  
Desmond could feel the stares of everyone in the courtroom watching him, waiting for an answer. He could see Penelope in the crowd sitting behind Mr. Whidmore himself who was at the accusatory desk to the left of the room.  
"I declined it because..." Desmond paused. "Because I didn't want to owe him anything...Because I'm a coward."  
The lawyer smiled. "And afterwards, you left Penelope. Is that correct?"  
"Yes." Desmond sighed.  
"And then a week after that, you reapplied for the job at Mr. Whidmore's?"  
"Yes." He was beginning to get sick of saying yes over and over again.  
"Now if you didn't want to owe him anything, and if you were such a coward, why did you apply again?" The lawyer asked suspiciously.  
"Because I was..." Desmond paused. He didn't like having to explain his personal life to the public. But he knew Penelope was listening and somehow that encouraged him to finish the sentence. "Because I was trying to be...respectable. I wanted to show that if I tried...that maybe Mr. Whidmore would see me as more then just a pathetic excuse for a man."  
There were murmurs from the crowd. Desmond cast a glance over at Whidmore and saw him glaring at him. And then he saw Penny, watching him with tear-glazed eyes and a trembling lip. He forced himself to look at the bench.  
"So after you were denied the job." The lawyer said with a frown. "Did you feel the need for revenge? Did you decide that maybe if you stole Whidmore's money and stole his--"  
"I didn't steal anything." Desmond snapped suddenly.  
"Calm down, Mr. Hume." The judge said warningly in a dark, husky voice.  
"Sorry." Desmond muttered.  
"Well Mr. Whidmore says you did steal something." The lawyer said, striding back and forth in front of the desk. "The police searched your house and found no money, nor the object that was stolen. The evidence was on your side. However, the object that was stolen, was recently found on Mr. Whidmore's doorstep the next day."  
Desmond looked up in shock. "What?"  
The lawyer held up a plastic bag and inside of it was a golden locket with a chain on it. "This 30,000 dollar locket was found with your finger-prints on it on Mr. Whidmore's porch. Now how did it get there?"  
Desmond opened his mouth. He was about to defend himself when something clicked inside his mind. "I...uh..."  
"What is that, Mr. Hume?" The lawyer asked.  
Desmond sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Alright..." He said, keeping his eyes on the bench in front of him. "I confess, I stole the locket. But not the money."  
There were gasps from the crowd. Penny stood up, unable to control herself and looked at him utterly speechless. Mr. Whidmore looked equally shocked. Desmond remained seated, unable to look and see the horrible looks in the audience's faces. But the face he was afraid to see the most was Penny's.  
"Order! Order!" The judge said, slamming his hammer into his desk in frustration. "You plead guilty, Mr. Hume?"  
"I do." Desmond said with a weak smile and looking up into the ceiling that was shining brightly down upon him.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Charlie led Desmond back into the jungle and continued north while Desmond read and re-read through the file. There was a dark frown on his face as he walked before suddenly throwing the file into the bushes and stopping. "Why would I care?" He asked.  
"What?" Charlie questioned.  
"That file." Desmond pointed down at it. "There was a bunch of information on me and my life. My birth date, my family, all of that stuff I knew...but why?"  
"Did you read the article of the newspaper in there?" Charlie asked.  
"Yeah." Desmond frowned. "About Mr. Whidmore?"  
Charlie studied his face for a moment with a frown. "You do understand what it--"  
"Yeah, I understand!" Desmond shouted. "Like I said--why should I care if he's dead!?"  
Silence before Charlie sighed and looked down. "I can understand that you're angry, Des...but--"  
"That man ruined my LIFE!!!" Desmond roared. "I'm glad he's dead! Was that all you had to show me!?"  
"Yeah..." Charlie muttered.  
"Then leave! I can make my way from here."  
"The information in that article is important, Desmond." Charlie told him as he began to walk away. "You'll need it."  
"Shut it!" Desmond said loudly. "I'm done listening to you!"  
And with that, Desmond left Charlie standing in the jungle watching him go sadly. "Don't forget what I showed you, Desmond!" He shouted.

**FLASHBACK**

Desmond sat in the jail cell staring off into space at the iron bared door in front of him. As he sat there, staring at the bars with narrowed eyes, a smile appeared on his face. He fumbled with something on his bed and picked up the piece of paper with Penelope's face on it. He looked down at the picture of him and her standing by the docks and remembered that moment except this time he began to cry with happiness. The memory was what was going to keep him going. No longer was he going to be dragged down. When he left this cell he was going to become a new man.  
"Mr. Hume?"  
He looked up and saw the guard standing there holding keys in his hands. "You have a visitor."

He took a seat, his hands chained behind his back by hand-cuffs, in the cafeteria of the prison and waited patiently. Who could it be that was visiting him? Could it be Penelope? She seemed like the only person who would bother. He had nobody else.  
And when he heard footsteps approach the table, he looked up and found that he was right. There she was, taking a seat across from him at the table looking sad just at the sight of him.  
"Desmond..." She muttered.  
"Hey, Pen..." He greeted her weakly.  
"You look terrible." Penny said and he smirked.  
"I'm fine, don't worry."  
There was an awkward silence between them. Desmond frowned, wanting desperately to get something off his chest right away. "I'm sorry." He muttered. "I'm so sorry, Penny..."  
"Don't be." She told him.  
"I never should have..." He sniffed, looking down. "All my life I made mistakes. And you were the greatest one of all. I never should have left you."  
Tears formed in Penny's eyes as well as she reached out and touched the side of Desmond's face. "Do you still love me, Des?"  
Desmond sniffed again and nodded, looking down.  
A tear slid down Penelope's face and she smiled weakly. "When you get out, I'll be waiting for you."  
"I'll send you letters." Desmond said desperately. "Every day. We can work things out when I see you again."  
Penny nodded, leaning forward and kissing him softly. "Did you really steal that locket, Desmond?" She asked when she pulled away.  
Desmond chuckled under his breath. "Why would it matter?"  
"There was a picture of me inside of it." Penny said. "And when it was given back to my father, the picture was gone."  
"Guess I did steal it then, eh?" Desmond said.  
Penny gave him a raised eyebrow. "If you didn't, then why would you confess?"  
"Maybe...because I'm a coward." Desmond sighed. "But not anymore. I promise."

**END OF FLASHBACK**

**Yesterday**

Desmond burst out from the jungle, finally arriving on the beach. He scanned the shore on both ends, breathing heavily and looking around in confusion. Where were they? He was there? Wasn't he? This was the north side of the island? Maybe he'd found the wrong beach. He'd have to keep searching.  
He moved forward but found himself numb in the legs. With a sigh, he fell to his knees and rested in the sand, listening to the sounds of the waves crashing against the beach peacefully.  
Desmond pushed himself up and was about to continue north along the beach when suddenly there was a loud gunshot and he felt a sharp pain in his right arm.  
He yelled in horror, falling to the sand once again and looking around for the source of the agony he felt. He gripped his bicep, feeling blood gushing out from it.  
Dazed, in pain, and confused, Desmond stood up and bolted in the jungle. He stumbled through he trees unsure of where he was heading. He just wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as he could.  
BLAM! Another gunshot except this one missed and hit a tree he was passing by. Desmond continued running as fast as he could until he felt something slip and the next thing he knew he was tumbling down a hill of bushes and leaves. He grunted in agony once again when he hit the bottom with a heavy THUD!  
Fumbling his hand around in the grass, he tried to muster the strength to lift himself up but found himself being grabbed by the collar and forced up to his feet. There was a man standing there with a rifle in his hand. He could hear people all around him talking amongst themselves.  
"Is it one of the survivors?" One said. He was wearing a gas mask. They all were.  
"Take him." Another man said. "We can use him for later."  
Desmond felt something sharp enter his neck and the next thing he knew his eye-lids were dropping and the overwhelming feeling of drowsiness was taking control. "Ch-Charlie..." He muttered weakly. "Penny..."

**LOST**


End file.
